Visits to the theatre are an essential part of the drama and theatre studies curriculum. This Year the department has organised trips to several major productions and workshops. In the autumn term A Level Theatre Studies students participated in an all day workshop a the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford followed by an evening performance of ‘The Drunks’, a modern Russian play and part of the RSCs Revolutions season. Following this, A Level Students attended a further day of workshops at Malvern Theatres and an evening performance of ‘Cabaret’. In contrast to these large scale shows, we also visited the Bristol Young Vic company’s production of ‘Our Country’s Good’ by Timberlake Wertenbaker, the A2 performance text for this year. GCSE Year 11 students went down to Bristol Old Vic main space in January to see Kneehigh Theatre Company’s innovative re-telling of Hansel and Gretel. Finally, the entire Year 9 group with some Year 10 GCSE students travelled up to the RSCs Courtyard Theatre in January to experience Dominic Cooke’s adaptation of ‘Arabian Nights’. All of these productions, as well as being entertaining, have provided invaluable opportunities for students to incorporate ideas and techniques in the development their own work.

As well as going out to the theatre, the department actively encourages visits from theatre professionals and practitioners. It is hoped that hands on mask making and theatre lighting workshops will be available to GCSE and A Level students in the near future.