Devising dos and don'ts for GCSE Drama

It was a sad day for Drama teachers everywhere the day Stephen Merchant's infamous GCSE Drama sketch disappeared from YouTube. Personally this was the cornerstone of my ‘Introduction to GCSE’. For those who have not seen it, Merchant claims to have found a sketch, written by his 14-year-old self, for his Drama GCSE. Thankfully it is available on Amazon for a snip at £2.99 and I strongly recommend getting hold of a copy. In the sketch, Merchant mercilessly ridicules all the painful GCSE Drama clichés – the monotone chanting building to a crescendo, the covering of taboo topics, the painful set changes and the frequent, untimely use of ‘BLACKOUT'! A colleague recently also showed me a Saturday Night Live sketch starring Reese Witherspoon, similarly ripping the proverbial from GCSE habits which may also suffice. Show it to your Year 10, get them to create ‘the worst piece of drama ever’ and encourage them to get it all out of their system. In the past my classes have entertained with: