Drama students will have the opportunity to study a more diverse GCSE and A-level curriculum with the addition of four new plays by color writers.
AQA, the largest examination board in England, says the texts are part of a set of measures to update and revise qualifications to ensure they better reflect the diversity of students and their teachers.
The new GCSE-level plays will include a thriller by Francis Turnley, based on the true story of Japanese citizens who were abducted by the North Korean regime in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Empress of Tanika Gupta, who tells the story of Queen Victoria’s relationship with her servant Abdul Karim and an Indian nanny named Rani Das, will also be added to the GCSE curriculum.
The new Level A texts include a reworking of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” by Inua Elams in Nigeria in the 1960s and Danai Gurira’s “The Transfiguration”, which tells the story of a young girl, Shona, who runs away from arranged marriage, accepting Christianity.
The GCSE Examination Qualification qualification now includes Mallory Blackman’s well-known stage adaptation of Zeros and Crosses, which reverses traditional racial stereotypes and shows racial prejudice from a different perspective.
The texts will be available for study from September, with exams taking place two years later. AQA is planning free online training events to give teachers practical tools for preparing and teaching new texts.
The examination board will also provide information on the social and historical origins of each text and will cover topics such as stereotypes, accents and casting. He will also look at how to teach texts that are currently included in the curriculum, with a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion.
Sandra Allen, Head of AQA’s Creative Arts Curriculum, said: “We chose these plays because of the rich opportunities they will offer our teachers and students to explore a diverse range of topics, including racial and social issues.
“However, we know that just adding new plays alone will not lead to more diversity in the curriculum, so we can’t stop there. We need to make it as easy as possible for schools to start teaching these plays.
“That’s why we provide a lot of new support and resources, and we really hope that teachers and students will enjoy these new additions to our drama qualifications.”
AQA is not alone in updating its curriculum. Last year, the OCR examination board presented a number of new works, including the 2019 Booker Prize winner, Bernardine Evaristo’s novel Girl, Woman, Other in its GCSE and A-level English literature courses.
Criticisms follow that the curriculum in England is not inclusive enough and needs to be adapted to better reflect modern society. A study by the charity Teach First, published in 2020, found that students can complete their GCSE and leave high school in England without studying a novel or play by a non-white author.
The four new plays
The big wave of Francis Turnley highlights the abduction of young Japanese citizens from North Korea. From 1979 to 2003, the play covered the mysterious disappearance of 17-year-old Japanese schoolgirl Hanako. This reflects the real life of Megumi Yokota, who was only 13 when she was abducted by a North Korean agent in 1977.
Empress Tanika Gupta began in 1887 when Rani Das and Abdul Karim arrived at the Tilbury Docks in London from India. The play covers the true story of Queen Victoria’s relationship with her Hindi servant and teacher, Karim, as well as the experiences of Indian Ayis like Das, who came to Britain in the 19th century and were treated as second-class citizens.
The converter from Danai Gurira is the story of a young girl named Shona, named Jakesay, who avoids a settled marriage by converting to Christianity and becoming a servant and disciple of an African evangelist. Inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, the play by the American-Zimbabwean playwright examines issues of racial, political and religious identity and assimilation, exploring the cultural and religious clashes caused by British colonialism.
Three Inui Elams sisters see Chekhov’s iconic heroes move from rural Russia to Auvergne in the 1960s in Nigeria, where the country is on the brink of a civil war in Nigeria, a conflict in which the eastern region of Nigeria is temporarily declared a new republic called Biafra. The Guardian’s Michael Billington described the play as “an astonishingly vivid account of the Civil War and a direct attack on British neo-colonialism”.
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