A Level Drama and Theatre

Course summary

A level Drama and Theatre assesses your engagement with play texts and your practical skills as an actor, designer or director. You are expected to become committed to the experience of live theatre. This will hopefully lead to a life-long interest in theatre-going as well as making the two year course a memorable one. The theoretical and practical elements of A level Drama and Theatre make it both a challenging and a very rewarding subject. It is by no means a soft option. In the first year you undertake a practical exploration and a theatrical interpretation of passages taken from play texts you and your class chose with your teacher's help, and suit the tastes and make-up of the group. You can contribute as either a performer, designer or director, and you learn how to write about the performance, as preparation for the second year exam. You study two play texts which you will revisit in the second year thus creating a continuity between the two years of A level study. In the second year of the course, you deepen your engagement with the two play texts, re-thinking the plays in line with the emphasis of the A level paper. The practical element of the A level Drama and Theatre requires you and your class collaboratively to create a devised theatrical piece and to undertake a practical exploration and interpretation of three extracts taken from different plays. You will be assessed by a visiting examiner on the performance. You can contribute as actor, designer or director and you produce a portfolio to accompany the practical work, providing evidence of how you analysed, interpreted and evaluated the performance. For more information visit the Drama and Theatre pages of the Edexcel website. This course is suitable for: - students who are looking to develop an advanced understanding of Drama and Theatre - students who want to deepen their analytical understanding of text in performance