HSC | Drama
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Course Description
In Drama, the practices of Making, Performing, and Critically Studying interrelate. Students learn to engage in a collaborative process in which they explore, shape and symbolically represent imagination, ideas, feelings, attitudes, beliefs and their consequences. Making in Drama involves students learning through improvising, playbuilding, writing, designing, directing and interpreting existing scripts.
Students learn how to develop an understanding of the elements of drama and theatre in performance, and the roles of designers, actors, directors, stage managers, theatre administrators, playwrights and others in the production of performances. Critically studying in Drama is characterised by learning that involves research, critical analysis, evaluation and reflection.
Topics studied in Year 11
The Preliminary Course includes the study of improvisation, playbuilding and acting. A variety of approaches to acting is investigated both theoretically and practically including Meyerhold, Stanislavski, Laban and Brecht. Students will complete both an individual and a group project exploring elements of production such as set, costume and lighting design.
Topics studied in Year 12
The HSC Drama course includes the study of Australian theatre, Group Performance and an Individual Project. In Australian Drama and Theatre students study the themes and issues, the historical, social, cultural and political contexts of particular forms, styles, movements or traditions of theatre, or the work of a specific artist, practitioner, group or company. Each student learns to collaborate with a group to devise and perform in a piece of original theatre. In the Individual Project students learn how to initiate and present a project in an area of interest. The Individual Project will take one of the following forms; critical analysis, design, performance, scriptwriting or video drama.
What do you do in this course?
Improvisation competitions, musical theatre games, puppet shows for younger students, performance nights, excursions to Sydney to see professional theatre and physical theatre workshops.
How can this course help you in the future?
Drama teaches students skills such as problem solving, collaboration and communication. Even the shyest of students take just a few weeks to gently build up their self-esteem and before long they report an increase in confidence. Through the study of plays, students’ interest in the world in which they live is sparked and their emotional intelligence is increased as they learn to view things in new ways and from different perspectives.