-
Look around our school
Opportunities to visit us -
Applying for a place
Find out how -
Get in touch
Our contact details
Drama
‘We act the plays we study, not only because it is entertaining to do so but because plays are made to be acted.’ Henry Caldwell Cook
Drama has traditionally been at the centre of teaching and learning in the English and Drama department at The Upper. In 1917, Henry Caldwell Cook, a celebrated and influential master at The Perse, published his visionary book The Play Way, in which he formulated a simple idea (above) which was nonetheless revolutionary in terms of educational theory (especially at a time when the academic subject “English” was still in its infancy).
As a consequence, even today Drama infuses our teaching of not only the Year 9 Drama option and GCSE Drama but also the English curriculum across Years 7 to the Upper Sixth. Skills acquired in the classroom are subsequently applied in our extensive annual programme of theatre productions – staged both in-house and in professional theatres.
