“One of the main exam boards is adding four new plays to its GCSE drama curriculum to make it more inclusive and help decolonise the syllabus,” The Times has reported.
From September, pupils will be able to study works by Bola Agbaje, In-Sook Chappell, Tanika Gupta and Roy Williams as part of the Pearson qualification, meaning a third of its set texts will be by ethnic minority playwrights. Gupta’s A Doll’s House is an Indian-based adaption of Ibsen’s classic play that reflects on British colonialism.
The report further stated that Antigone by Williams is a modern update of the Greek tragedy focusing on gang-related killings. Agbaje’s play Gone Too Far! explores the themes of racial identity and youth culture while The Free9 by Chappell is a North Korean-based drama.
