The Drama Department aims to give all students the opportunity to develop performance and technical skills. We encourage students to participate in the excitement of creating live theatre in various genres and to develop skills which are reflected in the highest standards of performance.

What we do:

Here at North London, the extra-curricular drama programme provides students with numerous opportunities to be involved in all kinds of different performances and at all levels of their school life. Over eleven extra-curricular performances a year allow students to try themselves out at all aspects of drama, from singing and dancing in the chorus of a musical, to acting a lead role in a political drama, to running the lights for a show or writing and directing their own piece of theatre. We strive for a highly professional theatrical experience for our performers and audiences but also have a very strongly inclusive ethos which means that we incorporate non-auditioned and student-led performances into the drama programme.

The teaching of curriculum drama is compulsory at Yrs 7, 8 and 9. This allows every girl the opportunity to gain the necessary confidence and skills to perform in a variety of styles but also to gain an intrinsic understanding of the dramatic process and the conventions of theatre. We try to take a practitioner-led approach to learning about drama, so the practices of theorists such as Stanislavsky, Laban, Brecht, Artaud, Brook and Craig form the framework around which we teach. We also explore world theatrical traditions and those from other ages. We love to see in our students the excitement and wonderful sense of achievement that comes with having the skills and understanding to fully participate in the dramatic process.

The Curriculum

The teaching of drama skills and structures enables students to experience various texts, some of which are taught as part of the English curriculum, through practical exploration which involves both improvising and devising. However, a skills-based approach is the foundation of our philosophy and hence whole schemes of work are devoted to less text-based work; these are designed to develop skills through practical dramatic techniques and exercises. This work provides a firm basis for GCSE Drama which is an option many students choose in Yrs 10 and 11. AS-level and A2 Theatre Studies (AQA) are offered in Yrs 12 and 13 as is the International Baccalaureate Theatre. All the teaching of GCSE and 6th form Drama is undertaken by specialist Drama teachers.

Extra-Curricular

The extra-curricular Drama programme is wide and varied. There are five major performances every year: a Yrs 6/7 Musical, a middle school play for Yrs 8 and 9 and two or three other productions which are open to students from Year 10 upwards. Over the last few years we have mounted productions of More Light, The Mill on the Floss, Sweeney Todd, Return to the Forbidden Planet, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Chrysalids, Little Shop of Horrors, Oh! What a Lovely War, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Visit, Bugsy Malone, Antigone and Our Country's Good.

Yrs 8 and 13 perform in the Founder's Day plays at the end of the Spring Term and Yr 12 students help the Yr 7s to devise and perform a pantomime for the John Grooms Home for the Disabled.

Student-Led Work

There are Drama clubs for Yrs 7, 8 and 9 which are run by Yr 12 girls with teacher support. Students are encouraged to write and perform their own scripts and devised work. A performance evening, called 'Extracts' , gives students from Yrs 10 to 13 an opportunity to choose, cast and direct their own performance of a section from any play they wish.

There are various other opportunities for student-directed work, one of which is the Yr 12 play at the end of the summer term. The student-director is wholly responsible for the casting, rehearsing and conceptual design of the piece.

The Spaces

The school currently has three main performance areas:

- the School Hall, which has moveable raked seating for an audience of 230+

- a Studio Theatre which can house audiences of up to 120

- the brand new Performing Arts Centre

This purpose-built complex incorporates a professional theatre space seating audiences of up to 350 and provides outstanding opportunities for students to work in a professional theatre environment and to take full control of every aspect of theatre production.

All venues have fully computerised lighting, sound and projection facilities and the Studio Theatre is also equipped with a full size projection screen so that film-making can be incorporated into students' work. Technical skills are taught to interested students from Year 10 upwards on lunch-time and extra-curricular courses.

Edinburgh

In the last few years the school has performed twice as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The students' work was described as 'impressive' with 'an intensity of feeling and intelligent understanding.' (The Times Educational Supplement)