Pupils develop their performance abilities as well as obtaining skills in performance support whether that be theatre design, stage management or script writing. Through this, pupils present their work in a variety of ways: the traditional as well as the more challenging and unexpected.
The skills gained by studying Drama at GCSE or A-Level are the skills that employers of the future are looking for: problem-solving, the ability to work in a team, and communication skills. Faced with a world where the jobs of the future have yet to be invented, we need to make sure that our pupils are able to adapt to the new workplaces. Versatility is a skill Blundellians pick up through their involvement with the Drama Department. Some of these pupils put this to good use as they go on to pursue their passion for the performing arts in higher education, but many others transfer the skills they have developed in the Drama classroom and on the Ondaatje stage to other fields from Veterinary Science to Business & Marketing, from Biology to Geography.
Our aims in the Drama Department are best summed up as a:
- Desire to celebrate the power of drama and to transport maker and spectator
- Determination to work in a thoroughly professional way in pursuit of high standards but without losing a sense of playfulness
- Passion to keep learning and encountering new influences
- Belief in teaching the art of the playwright, director, designer, technician and critic as much as the art of the actor
