Departure
This project looks at how people react when they part, knowing that they may not see each other again. At the end of the project, the class, as a whole group, performs a piece of drama of between 5 and 15 minutes with the title ‘The departure’.
The aims are to:
- encourage the use of vocal and physical skills appropriate to character and situation, giving consideration to pace, projection, timing and space
- be aware of the role that a stimulus can have in shaping a drama
- develop and sustain a variety of styles and forms of drama
- understand how drama can be created for a specific audience.
By the end of this project, students are expected to have:
- developed and sustained a role appropriate to the situation and understood their character’s relationship to others in the group
- responded creatively to a stimulus
- developed evaluation skills
- created a piece of drama for a specific audience.
The techniques which are covered in lessons in this project include:
- monologue
- still image
- thought-tracking.
The key words which are used in this project include:
- character
- monologue
- performance
- rehearsal
- self-evaluation
- still image
- thought-tracking.
The text which students encounter during this project includes a script on the theme of departure.
This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with History and English.
Students should be assessed in this project on the extent to which they:
- develop a meaningful character based on a theme
- participate and develop confidence in working as a whole class
- develop and perform a monologue.
Web sites which could be used for further information on this topic include:
This project meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete mapping, see Managing: Drama in Schools.
Level 5: Making
- Explore and interpret ideas, issues and relationships in their drama work, and structure it using appropriate dramatic forms, eg documentary drama, and conventions such as the use of the aside
Level 5: Performing
- Use an increasing range of different drama techniques, effects and theatre conventions in the plays they present
Level 6: Making
- Devise dramas in various forms, based on a range of challenging issues and themes
A printable version of the project is provided here:
A scheme of work for this project is provided here:
Aims
freeze frame, 
Departure