Does this subject contribute to an ATAR? Yes (General Subject)
How many credits does this subject contribute towards QCE? 4
What is Drama?
Drama fosters creative and expressive communication. It interrogates the human experience by investigating, communicating and embodying stories, experiences, emotions and ideas that reflect the human experience. It engages students in imaginative meaning-making processes and involves them using a range of artistic skills as they make and respond to dramatic works.
Students experience, reflect on, understand, communicate, collaborate and appreciate different perspectives of themselves, others and the world in which they live. They learn about the dramatic languages and how these contribute to the creation, interpretation and critique of dramatic action and meaning for a range of purposes. They study a range of forms, styles and their conventions in a variety of inherited traditions, current practice and emerging trends, including those from different cultures and contexts.
Students learn how to engage with dramatic works as both artists and audience through the use of critical literacies. The study of drama develops students’ knowledge, skills and understanding in the making of and responding to dramatic works to help them realise their creative and expressive potential as individuals. Students learn to pose and solve problems, and work independently and collaboratively.
What makes a student suited to Drama?
Students who achieve success in Drama are those who enjoy:
- generating and developing creative ideas and presenting them as plays, performance, scripts, or filmed works
- learning performance works and presenting them to a variety of audiences
- developing characters, devising original works or experiencing and exploring what it's like to be in someone else's shoes, including using their imagination to explore beliefs, feelings, behaviours and relationships across many situations and contexts
- extending their confidence as public speakers, presenters or leaders
- engaging with drama to experience, understand and communicate different perspectives on the world
- challenging their imagination, critical and creative thinking, problem solving, cultural engagement and
- communication, and seek opportunities to share ideas with others through informal and formal performances
- exploring and experimenting with technical and production skills to create meaning
- watching, analysing, interpreting and evaluating dramatic works from different social, cultural or historical contexts and justifying these in extended written formats
What prerequisites must students meet in order to take this subject?- Year 9 - minimum of C Standard in Year 9 Core English
- Year 10 - minimum of C Standard in Year 10 Drama and C Standard in Year 10 Core English
What is the cost of this subject?
Year 11 and 12 - all senior drama students must attend live performances and participate in artist workshops. Attendance at these is essential to complete assessment. Approx. $50 a year
What materials or equipment do I need for this subject?
- Theatre Blacks (drama department uniform) for presenting
- BYOD laptop with video and music editing software from Year 10
- Personal headphones and personal device such as Smart Phone for recording work, accessing personal music and audio/video editing software
What do students study in this subject and how are they assessed?
| | | Unit Overviews | Assessment |
| Year 10 | Semester 1 | Year 10 Drama has 3 units:
Unit 1-Real Worlds: In this unit students will explore theatre that is inspired by real
events that aim to challenge an audience’s perspective on the lived
experience. Students will explore,
depict and celebrate the human experience by imagining and representing other people
through live enactment and tell stories that are: meaningful,
thought-provoking, dynamic, and entertaining, celebrating both the confronting
and cathartic nature of performance. | Summative internal assessment 1: Performance: Practice led project
|
| | Semester 2 | Unit 2 Old Worlds: In this unit students will explore William
Shakespeare along with Elizabethan society, language, and themes analysing and
explaining why this traditional style of theatre is still relevant today.
Students will work as a director, to create and develop their own vision for a
Shakespearean play that will be performed for a contemporary audience.
Unit 3 Surreal Worlds: This unit is designed to introduce students to
the themes and conventions of Contemporary Performance, using conventions from
modern theatre genres such as Australian Gothic Drama, Cinematic Theatre, Site
Specific and Visual Theatre. Students will explore Australian characters,
stories, and First Nations perspectives through script writing, directing,
forming and performing learning activities with the goal of creating a unique
fusion project performance to communicate dramatic action and meaning to an
audience. | Summative internal assessment 2:
Product/Project Summative internal assessment 3: Project
Summative internal assessment 4:
Extended written response
|
| Year 11 | Unit 1 | Share
How does drama promote shared understandings of the human experience? • cultural inheritances of storytelling
• oral history and emerging practices
• a range of linear and non-linear forms | Formative internal assessment 1:
Project: Dramatic Concept Formative internal assessment 2:
Performance |
| | Unit 2
| Reflect
How is drama shaped to reflect lived experience?
• Realism, including Magical Realism, Australian Gothic
• associated conventions of styles and texts | Formative internal assessment 3:
Project: Practice led project Formative internal assessment 4:
Extended Response |
| Year 12 | Unit 3 | Challenge
How can we use drama to challenge our understanding of humanity?
• Theatre of Social Comment, including Theatre of the Absurd and Epic Theatre
• associated conventions of styles and texts | Summative internal assessment 1 (IA1): 20%
• Performance Summative internal assessment 2 (IA2): 20%
• Project — dramatic concept |
| | Unit 4
| Transform
How can you transform dramatic practice?
• Contemporary performance
• associated conventions of styles and texts
• inherited texts as stimulus | Summative internal assessment 3 (IA3): 35%
• Project — practice-led project Summative external assessment (EA): 25%
• Examination — extended response |