Drama - Hampton School

The Performing Arts thrive at Hampton and the Drama Department provides boys with excellent opportunities to develop their interest in acting, directing and technical skills. Staffed by a range of inspirational and experienced teachers, we believe the study of drama promotes social, presentation and communication skills as well as engendering a lifelong love of the Arts and the Stage.

The standard of academic and co-curricular drama productions at Hampton is exceptional and students’ talents are wonderfully showcased in our professional performance venue, The Hammond Theatre. Hampton has often submitted student-led productions to the National Schools Drama Festival and recent students have gone on to achieve national acclaim with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in directing.

Hampton’s Drama Department is renowned for its standard of excellence and has developed its own fully recognised Key Stage 4 qualification, The Hampton School Certificate of Education in Drama which you can learn more about by clicking on the link above.

All students studying public examinations are provided with a wide range of opportunities to visit the professional theatre enhancing knowledge of performance and design skills.

AIMS OF THE DRAMA DEPARTMENT

Provide a thorough preparation for KS4 and A Level examinations, ensuring each boy achieves his full academic potential
Enhance understanding of design and performance through visits to professional plays and involvement with technical duties
To encourage enthusiasm for, and enjoyment of drama, developing creative and independent thought

Academic Performances

Every pupil studying Drama as an academic subject has the opportunity to give a live performance to an invited audience in The Hammond Theatre or Drama Hall.

2nd Year Performances:

During the Spring term, the Second Year is set a devising project. Each class create their own original devised play and perform to an audience in The Hammond Theatre.

3rd Year Performances:

During the Third Year course, pupils study a ‘Devising Theatre’ unit. This culminates in a performance of their own work performed in the Drama Hall to an invited audience.

4th and 5th Year Performances:

During the KS4 course, pupils will perform a range of plays (scripted and devised) in The Hammond Theatre and Drama Hall to an invited audience. Previous performances include: William’s Lord of the Flies, Donoghue’s Mudlarks and Berkoff’s The Trial.

Sixth Form Performances:

Theatre Studies students will deliver a range of performances in The Hammond Theatre and Drama Hall throughout the course. Performance texts vary in genre and period, ranging from classical theatre and farce, to renaissance and new-writing. Pupils will also devise and perform their own original play inspired by the methodology of a theatre practitioner.

FACILITIES

HAMMOND THEATRE

Our professional standard theatre, ‘The Hammond’, is a venue to rival any school in the country and offers the perfect environment for a wide range of performances. It seats 380 people, is fully equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and sound technology and is run by a full time technical team.

THE DRAMA HALL

Situated in the Garrick building, the hall is used as a performance space, rehearsal and teaching room and as a venue for drama workshops by visiting professional practitioners. The Drama Hall also has a lighting rig and a range of audio-visual equipment.

DANCE STUDIO

Hampton also offers an excellent dance studio with mirrored walls and wooden sprung floor which is used for academic lessons and co-curricular work. Dances for the School’s biennial musical are rehearsed in the studio, and during lessons it is used as a facility for chorus and movement work.

JUNIOR DRAMA CLUB

Open to all boys in the first, second and third year, this club meets during lunchtime, once a week. Students work on their improvisation and performance skills through a series of games and exercises. The group produce an annual performance staged in the Autumn or Summer Term.

TECHNICAL THEATRE CLUB

The students meet once a week and learn how to operate and programme the latest lighting and sound equipment in the 450 Hall. Students participating in this club will be under continual guidance and supervision by the Technical Manager.

MUSICAL THEATRE DANCE CLUB

This club is a fun and energetic way for Hampton boys and LEH girls to learn a variety of musical theatre dance styles from West Side Story to tap and swing. Open to all abilities, from total beginners to those who feel they may already have rhythm and style.

TRIPS

Each student studying Drama will visit the theatre at least once during the year to watch and evaluate a live professional performance. Students are also encouraged to see the professional theatre productions that tour to our very own theatre and attend the ‘NTLive’ and ‘The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company Live’ screenings at ‘The Hammond’.

The HSCE is listed in the UCAS Qualifications and Guidebook, a nationally distributed guide, alongside all other National Exam Board subject qualifications.

The HSCE Drama course is an active and enjoyable course strengthening boys’ practical and academic work. During the course, boys develop and strengthen their performance skills in conjunction with written analysis. There is a strong emphasis on practical work supported by written reflection. Pupils are given the opportunity to perform scripted work and their own original devised work throughout the course.

The proposed course is also complementary to the Drama and Theatre Studies AS/A2 Level, providing students with an excellent foundation for the course, should they wish to continue their study of Drama during the Sixth Form.

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