Imaginative, collaborative and inspiring, Drama is taught and performed in our well-equipped Drama Studio with further performances also taking place in our Main Hall.

Led by staff with extensive professional theatrical experience the department is an exciting, thriving place full of opportunity for expression and development.

Years 7-9

All students attend timetabled Drama lessons during the first three years at TMCS.

These classes concentrate on building confidence, expanding the imagination and improving both communication skills and teamwork. The schemes of work concentrate on important eras in the development of Drama and issues that will affect the lives of the students.

Basic Drama skills are taught through practical exercises and students will explore the challenges of both improvisation and scripted performance.

Years 10 & 11

Drama is available as a GCSE option and we follow the OCR syllabus.

The course concentrates on the dual skills of Devising and Performing scripted work. Students have the opportunity to develop skills as a Performer, Deviser, Director and Designer.

Students have recently worked on scripts such as The Crucible, Bouncers and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and devised work based on last summer’s riots, Our Country’s Good and Dulce et Decorum Est. Students are taken to a number of live theatre visits during the course to add to their knowledge and understanding of Drama.

Years 12 & 13

Drama is available as an A-Level option and we follow the Edexcel syllabus.

The AS course follows a wide range of study using two published texts to explore practitioners such as Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud and Boal while continuing to develop students’ performance skills. Alongside this students grow their knowledge and understanding of social, historical, cultural and political influences, staging and semiotics. Recent texts have included Death of a Salesman, Mother Courage and her Children, Road and Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

At A2 the course allows the students to devise their own piece of stimulus-based theatre alongside preparation for the written exam that requires study and rehearsal of a set text and visits to live theatre.

Extra-Curricular

Every member of the Thomas More community is welcomed and invited into the Drama Department’s activities. A full-school play is produced ever year in December and is a highlight of the school calendar. Opportunities abound for students to perform or assist in a number of technical and backstage capacities. Recent productions include A Christmas Carol, Our Day Out, Bugsy Malone, Wind in the Willows and this year’s extremely well received The Government Inspector.

There is also a Drama club (run by Year 10 students) for students in Years 7 & 8 and an annual Year 9 Drama competition.