Drama & Theatre combines the study of practical performance with the history and social context of theatre. It is the study of a range of practitioners and acting styles, as well as reading and analysing plays. It also includes learning about stage-craft and stage management skills in set design, lighting and sound.
Studying this subject will enable you to explore the history and social context of theatre and play texts. It will challenge you practically and academically and you will develop your own performance skills, which can be transferred to a variety of career paths and opportunities.
Join us for this challenging and rewarding A-Level that combines academic and practical skills, while developing your performance, analysis and critique of theatre. You’ll develop and perform classical and contemporary text extracts and create your own original devised piece of theatre.
On this course you will explore your textual and performance analysis abilities and practical performance skills to increase your understanding of how theatre works, and to develop you as a performer and director.
In the first year of the course we explore different styles of theatre and you will have the opportunity to develop both your analytical and research skills as you study the contexts and themes behind key dramatic texts. You will explore these through practical workshops, leading to your own written reports and performance presentations, which demonstrate your practical ideas and ability.
In your second year you will create and perform your own piece of devised theatre, and perform your final chosen text extract to an external examiner. Both of these projects will be supported by a 3000 word piece of coursework. You will watch and evaluate live theatre and analyse two set texts in preparation for your final examination at the end of year 2
The course will help you develop your subject specific skills related to performance and the theatre, as well as various transferrable academic and personal skills.
On this course you will have the opportunity to go on a number of trips. In the past we have seen productions in Brighton, Chichester and London and had tours of Shakespeare’s Globe and the National Theatre. Students have also done workshops at the Globe as well as with Frantic Assembly.
Cygnet Training Theatre has a 40-year history of training actors. Its training takes a learn-while-doing approach, giving live performances to paying audiences from term one. Our students learn how to work as an ensemble, with the opportunity to work with multiple directors and visiting industry professionals. While our school ethos is grounded in the work of our late patron, Peter Brook, the training covers an eclectic mix of acting methods and is also able to accommodate for flexibility if the students show aptitude in other areas such as music and dance. Our courses balance classwork with rehearsal. Tutorials and group classes cover acting, voice, singing, movement, text, film, radio, and stage combat. Cygnet offers an unprecedented amount of one-to-one tuition that the larger schools are unable to offer, as well as the opportunity to study in a beautiful city.
Foundation students will have a solid grounding in acting technique as well as the chance to ‘test drive’ some other aspects of the industry such as stage management to consider how they would like to move forward with their career. Students are expected to take the ATCL Diploma (Trinity) with the option to move on to the LTCL if they continue with us. We offer support for auditions with other training providers as well as the possibility to continue training at Cygnet. Continuation of studies will be reassessed at the end of each year.
We finish off the summer with a West End Week, welcoming guest performers from some brilliant shows to teach songs and choreography. Every day young people explore different material with a guest teacher. Over the last three years, students have worked with guest friends from the west end shows 'Heathers', 'Six', 'Bring It On', 'Dreamgirl's, '& Juliet', 'Hamilton', 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie', 'Wicked', 'We Will Rock You', 'Les MIserables', 'Hairspray', 'Be More Chill', 'Come From Away' and 'Six'. We will confirm this year's guest teachers later in the year.
Our ethos is really important to us; we are here as artists and practitioners, creators, thinkers and learners, here to encourage your development, understanding and appreciation of theatre and drama as powerful tools in the examination of human interaction, and to help you respond in a personal and creative way. We are a department of collaboration, creation and innovation and you will be involved in the lively artistic life of the College as a ClassAction practitioner. Everyone will always be encouraged to find their own unique artistic voice as a practitioner.
The course demands practical, creative and communication skills in equal measures. You will be expected to extend your ability to create drama and theatre, either in a performing or a production role. You will write about drama and develop your powers of analysis to become an informed critic. The course will involve taking part in productions as well as studying plays, playwrights and theatre practitioners.
The teaching is done using a variety of approaches designed to suit different abilities and learning styles. Our staff work closely together and operate a team-teaching approach for practical units to encourage the widest range of creativity.
