We have a Dancer in Residence and hold the world’s most important collection of papers relating to the Jacobean Theatre...
14 things you might not know about Dulwich College...
Drama and Dance
year the phenomenal one-man show Wolf was staged in the Edward Alleyn Theatre for the whole of Year 9. This was epic storytelling playing homage to film noir tropes with actor Lewis Doherty bringing to life an hilarious adventure across a cyber-punk landscape. This Autumn also saw a joint Drama & PE Trip to the smash hit National Theatre production of Dear England in the West End. Year 9 pupils regularly take part of the staging of eight productions for the annual MSHD Festival. Year 9 students also have the opportunity to take part in a scratch production. Recently this has included Vivienne Franzmann’s darkly comic zeitgeist play The It brilliantly exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within. This academic year saw Year 9 pupils from Dulwich and JAGS at the heart of the First Folio Shakespeare 400 celebrations. Finding the Folio was a newly commissioned play allied to the joint Art, Drama, English and Archive project inspired by documents ‘exploding’ from the 1619 Treasury Chest. In the spirit of risk-taking and working to a deadline the performance was staged in promenade on the very day that 400 years previously, on 8 November 1623, the inky pages, both brilliant and imperfect went to press in Jaggard’s print shop, the Half Eagle and Key. The College also holds the world’s most important collection of papers relating to the Jacobean Theatre.
We are a school for Creative Minds...
An appreciation of all things theatrical is part of the Dulwich DNA. Echoing the spirit of their South London ancestors, Middle School pupils seize every opportunity to get involved in productions, House competitions and theatre trips. Drama is a popular subject for pupils at GCSE and A Level. All pupils have a Drama lesson in Year 9, taught as a Form throughout the year, which includes dance theatre skills introduced by our LABAN trained Dancer in Residence. Our own, fully equipped, purpose-built theatre is always a hive of activity where practical performance skills as well as techniques associated with production design and stage management are taught. All pupils are expected to be confident with basic stagecraft and theatre terminology as well as have a sound grasp of performance analysis. Many pupils take LAMDA courses with specialist teachers, and there are fantastic opportunities for pupils to develop their interest in the theatre through joint productions with Jame’s Allens Girls’ School, occasional workshops with visiting theatre professionals, and by experiencing live and digital theatre productions. Last
Art and Design & Technology
Both these subjects encourage pupils to think creatively and work independently, so they are prepared to take a GCSE in one or both subjects. In Art they will learn how to work independently in a multitude of media and will discover there is never only one answer. The answer cannot be found in a worksheet, cannot be downloaded, will not be found in past papers, and will only exist because they want it to exist.
In D&T each pupil learns how to shape, bend, and finish a mix of materials with various workshop hand tools and machinery. They will be introduced to virtual 3D modelling via our CAD package ‘Autodesk Inventor’ and use laser cutters and 3D printers. They also build a rechargeable flashlight and learn to program so that they can control a small Lego buggy. We support the idea that while many of our pupils will go on to Art Colleges, Design courses and Architecture, what we want our pupils to do is use the subject to learn skills that are transferable in a wide range of professions, to make them ready in an ever-changing world, to prepare them to challenge, change and to be prepared to never stop learning.
“The arts define our culture our identity and our national conversation.” Sir Peter Bazalgette OA
“It is essential to push and challenge students beyond any preconceived ideas of what it means to ‘do art’; digital- media, plaster and cement casting as well as experimental film are all skills that Alleynians can explore.”
“I’m still on a high from the creativity and talent that abounds in the Edward Alleyn Theatre; it oozes from every nook and cranny and every person connected to it”
Lesley Sharp (BAFTA and Olivier nominated Best Actress and winner of Screen Actors Guild and British Television Society Awards)
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