Courses in TSD | Drama Elective Programme (DEP)

Theatre Studies and Drama (TSD) is a demanding yet rewarding A-Level subject aimed at students with a genuine interest in Theatre and Drama. Students need to conduct their own research and select material for monologues, duologues, and group performances. Students also need to have a good level of spoken and written English and work with initiative both as an individual and as part of a collaborative team.

TSD is designed to be part of a balanced A-Level program, and it is not a career-oriented training program. Many students have actually gone on to pursue film/theatre/performing arts at a higher level, but the course offers openings to a wide range of careers. The course emphasizes the skills of independent, imaginative, and lateral thinking. Simultaneously, the course demands and rewards teamwork, resilience, and problem-solving approaches to shared targets. These skills help prepare students for any career that requires effective communication, imagination, initiative, and a cooperative mindset – all the skills that are currently in demand, both in the government and the private sectors (in areas such as law, media, sales, teaching, advertising, and management).

Students study key texts in different genres and examine ways of approaching scripts from a theatre maker's point of view. The theoretical side concerns aspects, such as social, cultural, and historical influences.

There are weekly practical workshops where the students explore drama, approaches to performance, and different conventions and theatre styles. This includes mask, technical design (set, costume, and makeup), Physical Theatre, Experimental Theatre, and practitioners such as Brecht, Artaud, Boal, and Stanislavski.