Drama Reflection 

 

Although some think that Drama may not be as applicable to our daily lives as are Maths and Sciences, Drama classes can enhance one’s self-confidence and promote skills on how to improvise in unfamiliar situations. Drama classes also provide students with an opportunity to get out of their comfort zone by promoting social interactions.

 

When I first started learning Drama back in Year 6, I hated it because it was too spontaneous and being under peer influence, considered it a useless subject. Back then, I did not like to interact with anyone, not even my teachers and friends. I used to be in a small cocoon where I always wished to be alone and not be bothered by anyone else. This continued until the end of year 7 but things started to change when I met a friend who enjoyed having Drama classes with an obvious interest in acting and studying the theatre. I thought she was mad and obnoxious, as I believed that no one could possibly like Drama and the Theatre that much, but with her company I started to like my drama classes with every passing week. At that time, we were starting to learn new drama techniques that actors use in the theatre, and I began to realize that most of the techniques are similar to those of our everyday interactions, especially in the ways we communicate.  That’s when I finally understood the reason behind my friend’s fondness towards the theatre.

 

As the years progressed, we had to do a lot of performances such as enacting scenes from plays and also improvising. One day, my Drama teacher asked me to perform one of the scenes in a group performance. I was completely surprised and confused. She told me the reason why I was specifically selected was that I had improved my acting skills over the past years. That was my first performance where I performed an acting piece in front of an audience. Before the performance, I was scared and overwhelmed by the fact that there was an audience watching me but with the encouragement from my teacher and also a few friends who joined in, I felt a lot more confident performing in front of people.

 

Until this day, as an IGCSE Drama student I still experience occasional stage fright from time to time when I have to perform in front of an audience, but eventually I have learned to relax and get over it. Through my years of drama lessons, I have learnt many valuable skills. It has given me a boost of confidence in performing, whether it is just delivering a simple speech in front of my friends, or going into an ABRSM piano exam, or enacting a scene from a play. Studying Drama has given  me a chance to relax and just be myself while enjoying the art of acting. To put a long story short, studying Drama is not a complete waste of time and it is awesome.

Mioie Kwok (10D)