Key Stage 3
Year 7
Intent
Students will develop an understanding of the fundamental acting skills required to create character, exploring both physical and vocal performance. They learn about the importance of theatre and experience this through an exploration of different styles and genres. As a result, they become increasingly confident, developing essential team building when creating and performing.
Learning Journey
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Explorative strategies
- Physical acting skills
- Vocal acting skills
- Team building
Key Knowledge
- Freeze Frames
- Narration
- Mime
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Physical and vocal acting skills to create pantomime characters
- Theatre style
- Breaking the fourth wall
- Theatre practitioners
Key Knowledge
- Pantomime stock characters
- Audience participation
- Over-exaggerated characters
- Narration
- Slapstick comedy
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Creating tension in a performance
- Storytelling
- Use of explorative strategies
- Performing in the horror theatre style
Key Knowledge
- Cross-cutting
- Soundscapes
- Thought tracking
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Performing in the comedy theatre style
- Use of physical skills to create character and show storylines
- Studying the origins of theatre
Key Knowledge
- Mime
- Cliffhangers
- The Keystone Cops
- Stock characters
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Acting with a script
- Taking a performance from page to stage
- Storytelling
- Creating character
Key Knowledge
- Characterisation
- Physical and vocal acting skills to create character
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- How to improvise
- Blocking
- Creating comedy through improvisation
- Spontaneity
- Team work
- Creating context
Key Knowledge
- Characterisation
- Rehearsed improvisation
- Spontaneous improvisation
- Plot, action, content
- Forum Theatre
Skill Development
Through these carefully planned schemes of work, students in Year 7 develop the skills to work collaboratively with others, forming social strengths from team-building. With guidance and understanding of how to create character, students should be able to perform in front of others showing audience awareness, using a range of physical and vocal acting skills.
Year 8
Intent
Our Year 8 students further develop their understanding of the physical and verbal skills performers utilise to create character. They will learn about the historical importance of theatre across history, considering different styles and genres from all around the world, and experience increased opportunities to devise, create and perform. Students respond empathetically to others, analysing performances from a critical standpoint and considering different types of stimuli.
Learning Journey
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Commedia Dell’Arte stock characters
- Physical and vocal acting skills to create exaggerated Commedia characters
- World Theatre
- Mime
Key Knowledge
- Commedia stock characters
- Audience participation
- Over-exaggerated characters
- Slapstick comedy
- Lazzi
- Comedy rule of three
- Grommalot
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Stage fighting techniques – a punch sequence including a hook and jab, a backhanded slap, a hair-pull and a strangle.
Key Knowledge
- Knapps and angles
- Naturalism
- Characterisation skills: facial expressions, gestures, body language, gait, physicality, eye contact, vocal p’s (pause, pitch, placing emphasis, projection, pronunciation).
- Seven levels of tension
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Stereotypical soap opera characters
- Naturalistic acting
- Creating tension with a cliff-hanger
Key Knowledge
- Multi-role
- Stanislavski and creating naturalistic performances
- Transitions
- Freeze frames
- Split stage
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Responding to a stimulus
- The page to stage process
- Devising using Brecht and Epic Theatre
Key Knowledge
- Social and political messages
- Breaking the fourth wall
- Placards
- The alienation effect
- Montage
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest
- Acting with a script
- Exploring Shakespearean language
- Taking a performance from page to stage
- Creating character
Key Knowledge
- Characterisation
- Rhythm and Iambic pentameter
- The globe theatre
- Elizabethan beliefs and superstitions
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Ensemble work
- Responding to a stimulus
- Devising using Frantic Assembly
Key Knowledge
- Chair duets
- Frantic Assembly
- Round By Through
- Ensemble
- Physical objects
Skill Development
Through these schemes of work, students in Year 8 develop the skill of empathy in responding to stimuli and pieces of work, as well as working collaboratively with others, playing an active role in the creation process of drama. They should be able to perform confidently in front of others, using physical and vocal acting skills consistently and with confidence.
Year 9
Intent
Building on their Year 7 and 8 experience, students can articulate and demonstrate their understanding of the range of acting skills needed to create character; they now execute physical and vocal elements of performance with confidence and conviction. Students will respond empathetically to a range of stimuli, working collaboratively and effectively with others to create a performance with a clear artistic intention, both devised and scripted.
Learning Journey
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Responding to a stimulus
- The page to stage process
- Devising using different practitioner’s theatre styles
Key Knowledge
- Stanislavski
- Brecht
- Boal
- Artaud
- Stimulus exploration
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Using Multi-role
- Working with a script
- Stereotypical characters
- Breaking the fourth wall and narration
- Creating comedy
- Stanislavski techniques
Key Knowledge
- Stanislavski
- Brecht
- Multi-roling skills
- How to create comedy
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- The seven levels of tension
- Putting explorative strategies into a devised performance appropriately
Key Knowledge
- Le’coq’s Seven levels of tension
- Cross-cutting
- Split stage
- Flashback and forward
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Slapstick comedy
- Physical comedy
- Stock characters
Key Knowledge
- Commedia Dell’Arte
- Modern street theatre
- Audience Participation
- Immersive theatre
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Naturalism
- Stanislavski
- Hot seating
- Working with a script
Key Knowledge
- Stanislavski
- Objectives and super objectives
- The magic if
- Naturalism
Themes, Concepts and Questions
- Shakespeare
- Stereotypes
- England in the 1500s
- Script work
- Literature
Key Knowledge
- Shakespearean language
- Flashback and Flashforward
- Physical acting skills
Skill Development
Through these schemes of work, students in Year 9 develop the skill of empathy in responding to stimuli and pieces of work, and are able to take their responses and work collaboratively with a group to bring them to life incorporating a range of explorative strategies. Students should be able to perform with confidence, creating an appropriate atmosphere for the audience, with clear evidence of staging choices being made from the outset. They should continue to communicate meaning through drama, using advanced physical and vocal acting skills.