Get out of the comfort zone!

David Porter
Saturday, December 1, 2018

Two of the best ways to get out of a comfort zone in drama are to experiment and to take a few (calculated) risks. After several years of making their drama in a regular studio or particular classroom space, KS5 students should be encouraged to push at boundaries to devise and improvise, to explore new ways of communicating meaning to audiences and to learn from a few failures. This approach is good preparation for the exams they may take and for life itself. The five sessions in this scheme each last 90 minutes, and could also be used by a group preparing a performance, whether devised or scripted, as they focus questions and present challenges on their use of space, proxemics, styles and genres for the widest possible range of audience. Received wisdom argues that it's rarely best to dive straight into devising with students, but to build up gradually. With KS5 the assumption is made that students can and should rapidly tackle devising, particularly as they prepare a devising section in one of the A levels on offer.