Pearson Edexcel - Makes an Active Commitment to Decolonise Drama with Four New Set Texts for GCSE Students and a Partnership with the London Theatre Consortium

Sep 5, 2026

Pearson Edexcel announces a major step toward inclusivity and decolonising the Drama GCSE curriculum by adding four new plays from Bola Agbaje, In-Sook Chappell, Tanika Gupta, and Roy Williams. The update ensures a significantly larger share of set texts come from global majority playwrights. Pearson also announces a partnership with the London Theatre Consortium and Representation in Drama to support teachers and work with producing theatres. The initiative follows consultation aimed at requiring at least two global majority works in GCSE Drama set lists.

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Pearson Edexcel announces four new GCSE Drama set texts

Partnership to strengthen representation and teacher resources

Consultation background and alignment with a 2020 provocation

The four plays added to the qualification

Global inclusion actions and editorial guidelines

Embargoed – 00.01 15th July 2021 PEARSON EDEXCEL MAKES AN ACTIVE COMMITMENT TO DECOLONISEDRAMA WITH FOUR NEW SET TEXTS FOR GCSE STUDENTS AND A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LONDON THEATRE CONSORTIUM In a major step towards inclusivity and decolonising the Drama curriculum, Pearson has added a total of four new plays to its GCSE qualification by Bola Agbaje, In-Sook Chappell, Tanika Gupta and Roy Williams. As a result, a third of Pearson Drama set texts are now by global majority playwrights. Pearson is also thrilled to announce a partnership with the London Theatre Consortium ( LTC), Representation in Drama ( RinD) led by Romana Flello ( Royal Court Theatre Participation Manager and Chair of the LTC Creative Learning Group) and mezze eade ( LTC & CLA Specialist Advisor) . Romana and mezze will offer the Pearson Drama team their expert support and will also work with the original producing theatres of the new texts (Lyric Hammersmith, National Theatre, Pilot Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East) to create additional content for teachers, further strengthening Pearson’s commitments to addressing long-term representation in Drama. Today’s announcements from Pearson come after close consultation with the London Theatre Consortium ( LTC) and the Royal Court Theatre, who in 2020 set a national provocation to all awarding bodies offering GCSE Drama: to include at least two works by global majority playwrights in their set text lists. Pearson has exceeded this target by adding four new texts. Following consultation with a range of external partners and drawing on the work of Beyond the Canon,1 the four plays, published by Methuen Drama, will be added to Pearson’s Edexcel GCSE course as part of a wider move to revise its set list in favour of representation across the board. They are: Tanika Gupta’s India-based adaptation of A Doll’s House; Roy Williams’ 21st century update of the classic tragedy Antigone; Bola Agbaje’s award winning play about race identity and youth culture Gone Too Far! and In-Sook Chappell’s North Korean-based drama The Free9 . Speaking about the updated GCSE qualification, Katy Lewis, Head of English, Drama and Languages at Pearson said: “We are committed to working with schools and young people to drive change and create learning environments that reflect the diversity of the modern world. “We want all learners to see themselves in the literature they study; to find belonging, understanding, and value through representation, and to see our whole society fairly reflected. Our work does not stop here. As part of our drive to improve diversification, we will also be considering adding playwrights that give us greater representation across gender, heritage, LGBTQ+ and disability.” Romana Flello, Participation Manager at the Royal Court Theatre and Chair of the LTC Creative Learning Group, said: “Since 2015, the Royal Court and LTC have worked closely with Pearson to embed better representation of artists from the global majority throughout the teaching and examination of Drama. It is uplifting to see them lead the way in GCSE Drama and we look forward to 1 An organisation dedicated to promoting diversity in the arts by championing hidden and forgotten plays written by international culturally diverse playwrights engaging more student, teacher and industry voices in change within Drama classrooms as we continue to work towards an inclusive Drama curriculum.” The new texts, available for first teaching in September, are published by Methuen Drama, an imprint of Bloomsbury. Dom O’Hanlon, Senior Commissioning Editor for Methuen Drama said: “Methuen Drama are committed to publishing diverse voices through our various play series and are delighted to hear that these four plays are being added to the curriculum. The works of Roy Williams, Tanika Gupta, Bola Agbaje and In-Sook Chappell all offer a wide range of stories that will appeal to students at GCSE level. We have published these

FAQs

What change is Pearson making to the Edexcel GCSE Drama set texts?

Pearson adds four new plays to the GCSE Drama qualification, increasing the proportion of set texts written by global majority playwrights.

Which partners does Pearson work with regarding representation in Drama?

Pearson partners with the London Theatre Consortium, including Representation in Drama led through Royal Court Theatre involvement, to support the Pearson Drama team and develop additional teacher content.

What are the four new plays that will be added to the GCSE course?

The plays are Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of A Doll’s House, Roy Williams’ update of Antigone, Bola Agbaje’s Gone Too Far!, and In-Sook Chappell’s The Free9.

Sep 5, 2026

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