Creativity Never Confined in Drama Lessons at DCSZ

Term 2 is our season of Comedy. Even though Covid has changed the delivery of classes yet again, it has been my aim to keep Drama as physical online as it is in-person. Our students enjoy Drama because it sparks imagination, activates creativity and engages the students to collaborate through the four primary areas of Drama: Designing, devising, directing and performing. This encourages students to work on their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills which are important to self-development and interacting with the wider world.

This term we have continued to work towards completing our season of comedy, with students actively devising their scenes, designing their production elements and directing each other to communicate their performances for the digital stage. It has been truly awe-inspiring to see the students excited and committed to their work in Drama. Whilst it has been a difficult time, the students have been able to deliver some of the best performances I have seen from Dulwich so far.

Even though our Term 2 performances have been confined to the frames of the computer screen, the students’ performances have been just as engaging and physical as our performances in person. It is easy to see why Dulwich students are known for their excellence when you witness the creative ideas and collaboration that energises each student in the digital rehearsal room. This term the KS4 Drama students were experimenting with using multiple cameras to perform the one-act play, "Checklist for an Armed robber". The actors are playing up to 12 different characters and have multiple costume changes throughout the 45-minute performance. Using Microsoft Teams for our rehearsals, the students switch from phone camera to computer screen, manipulating lighting, camera angles and costume to produce a didactic and incredibly suspenseful performance about life and the choices we make when under pressure.

As we move into Term 3, from KS3 right through to KS4, the term is for students to collate all the skills they've gained throughout the year for their final assessments. We look forward to our students’ wonderful performances.