I am excited to share with you the progress the Year 7 Drama students have been making in their Drama studies at OLMC this term.
The Year 7s are being encouraged to embrace creativity, experiment with their expressive abilities, and work collaboratively as they discover the dynamic world of drama. Through our unit, Dramatis Personae, students explore the fundamental elements of characterisation, developing both their expressive skills and performance techniques. Students are learning how to manipulate their expressive skills—such as voice, movement, gesture, and facial expression—to bring characters to life. They are also developing key performance skills, including energy, focus, and timing, which are crucial for delivering engaging and polished performances.
This practical, hands-on approach provides opportunities for students to perform regularly in front of their peers, allowing them to grow in confidence, receive constructive feedback, and reflect on their own progress.
One of the first key topics we explored is ‘tableaux’ (or frozen pictures). In these exercises, students create still images with their bodies to represent key moments or ideas. Tableaux have been particularly useful in helping students think about how to convey emotion and narrative using only physicality. This exercise encourages students to be aware of their body language, facial expressions, and gestures, allowing them to experiment with how they can communicate without words.
Another crucial component of the unit is ‘blocking’ - the precise staging of where actors move and stand during a performance. In drama, how a character moves in space significantly impacts how the audience understands relationships between characters, as well as the mood and meaning of a scene. We have been working on exercises where students consider the importance of spatial awareness, proximity between characters, and how to use levels and distance to create more dynamic performances.
Drama thrives on conflict, and students have been studying the idea of ‘narrative conflict’, a core element that drives any good story. By exploring different types of conflict (e.g., character vs. character, character vs. self, character vs. environment), students learn how to build tension and drama in their scenes. We encourage them to think critically about how conflict develops through dialogue and action and to use this knowledge to create richer and more engaging performances.
In every lesson, there is a strong emphasis on developing expressive and performance skills. Students are regularly challenged to experiment with their voice, using pitch, pace, and tone to convey emotion and character. We also explore how ‘movement’ and ‘gesture’ can be adapted to different character types, adding layers to performances. Moreover, students are taught to consider their ‘focus’—the ability to maintain concentration on their character and the scene, as well as to react in the moment—and how this impacts audience engagement.
The final key focus is on ‘timing’ and ‘energy’. Students are learning how to control the pacing of their performances, delivering lines and actions at just the right moment to maximize dramatic effect. They also explore how to inject energy into their roles, which is essential for keeping performances lively and engaging.
I encourage you to talk to your daughter about what she has been learning in Drama and perhaps even ask her to demonstrate some of the expressive skills she’s been developing!