Shakespeare Week丨Drama examination success!

Louise Chapman

English Teacher / EPQ Coordinator

It is with great pleasure to announce that Wellington College International Tianjin has become a registered LAMDA (London Academy of Music and dramatic arts) examination centre. Following from an extensive ASA programme in the first term, led by teachers from both the junior and senior schools, we are delighted to have entered our first two candidates for examination: William and Masa in year 9.

Both William and Masa took the LAMDA level one Shakespeare examination (equivalent to a grade 4), which involved them memorising a Shakespearean monologue and performing their adaptation to the examiner. This performance was followed by a question and answer session, in which the candidates had to answer questions about the play in which their speech was taken from, alongside information about characterisation and performance. 

Both pupils passed with flying colours: Masa achieving a Merit and William achieving a Distinction!

When reflecting on the experience, Masa commented that:

From this experience I was reminded that practice makes everything perfect, and that although it was a drama examination, we still needed to know a lot about the play not just our monologue. I would highly recommend this examination to anyone who is interested in drama, acting, or Shakespeare because not only will you improve your interpretation, and performing skills, but you will also get to learn more about one of Shakespeare’s plays.

William added:

To prepare for the LAMDA exam, there were various drama activities lead by Ms. Chapman […] We worked on movements, voice management, gestures, pronunciation practice, and memorising skills. The preparation activities were really fun. The LAMDA exam is also very important, not only if you decide to take drama as your career, the exam is open for everyone and may add credits for any high-level participants when applying to university.