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.

Hampton’s Drama Department is renowned for its standard of excellence and delivers numerous and varied co-curricular productions throughout the academic year. 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. Co-curricular productions include a School Musical with Lady Eleanor Holles, a Junior Musical with Waldegrave School, a Sixth Form directed play, a Lower School play and a Middle School play with Lady Eleanor Holles. This year, the department also plan to take a production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

All pupils 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 DRAMA DEPARTMENT

Provide a thorough preparation for KS4 and A Level examinations, ensuring each pupil 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.

Second Year Performances

During the Spring term, the Second Year is set a performance project. Each class perform and devise around a narrative poem and perform to an audience in The Hammond Theatre.

Third 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.

Fourth and fifth 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: Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Donoghue’s Mudlarks and Berkoff’s The Trial.

Sixth Form Performances

Pupils studying Drama and Theatre A Level 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 or theatre company.

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FACILITIES

HAMMOND THEATRE

Our professional standard theatre, The Hammond Theatre, 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.

Boys in the Fourth Year will follow the EDUQAS Drama GCSE course. This is an exciting, inspiring and practical course promoting involvement in and enjoyment of the theatre, helping them understand the medium from both a performance and technical perspective. Pupils will have the opportunity to watch a wide variety of live theatre, developing a critical eye as an informed and thoughtful audience member. They will be developing a wide range of theatrical skills and will apply them to a performance of scripted and devised pieces. This allows them to work collaboratively to generate, develop and communicate practical ideas. There is also the opportunity for pupils to work as designers.

The EDUQAS Drama GCSE course comprises three components which contribute to the final examination grade:

Performing a devised piece of theatre
Performing extracts from a professional script
Final written examination

Both the EDUQAS Drama and Theatre AS and A Level are broad and coherent courses, which allow our pupils to develop a high level of awareness and understanding of the roles and processes involved in theatre practice, through a practical and challenging syllabus. Pupils will develop and apply an informed and analytical framework for making, performing and interpreting Drama and Theatre. In lessons, pupils will explore their wide ranging set texts practically in order to inform and develop their theoretical knowledge of Drama. Pupils will have many opportunities to watch a wide variety of live theatre, developing a critical eye as an informed and thoughtful audience member. There is also an opportunity for pupils to work as designers.

The EDUQAS Drama and Theatre AS Level course comprises two components which contribute to the final examination grade:

Practical performance and portfolio of a scripted and reinterpretation piece
Written exam on a set text

The EDUQAS Drama and Theatre A Level course comprises three components which contribute to the final examination grade:

Practical performance and evaluation of a reinterpretation piece
Scripted and devised performance
Written exam on a set text

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

Pupils meet once a week and learn how to operate and programme the latest lighting and sound equipment in the Hammond Theatre. Hamptonians participating in this club will be under continual guidance and supervision by the Technical Manager and regularly provide backstage support for our Drama productions.

TRIPS

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