Drama Centre London (often abbreviated as Drama Centre) was a British drama school in King's Cross, London, where it moved in 2011 after a major reshaping of the

University of the Arts London University of the Arts London is a collegiate university in London, England, specialising in arts, design, fashion and the performing arts. It is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea Coll ...

. It was part of

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

, a constituent college of the university. In March 2020, UAL announced that the Drama Centre London would close when the current students had completed their courses. A member of the

Federation of Drama Schools The Federation of Drama Schools functions to facilitate vocational drama training in the UK. It was formed in June 2017. History A formal organisation for drama training in the UK was first established with the Conference of Drama Schools (CDS) i ...

, it offered BA (Hons) and MA acting courses.

History

Drama Centre London was founded in 1963 by a breakaway group of teachers and students from the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

, led by John Blatchley,

Yat Malmgren Yat or jat (Ѣ ѣ; italics: ) is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet and the Rusyn alphabet. There is also another version of yat, the iotified yat (majuscule: , minuscule: ), which is a Cyrillic character combining a ...

and Christopher Fettes. It was originally on Prince of Wales Road,

Chalk Farm Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. History Manor of Rugmere Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned in ...

, but moved first to Back Hill,

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

in 2004, then to King's Cross in 2011. From 1999 to 2020, it operated as an integral school of

Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

, offering degree programmes in acting, directing and screenwriting. A principal aim in the school's founding was to bring some of the major developments in American and European theatre to the training of British and international actors. Its approach articulated

Stanislavski's system Stanislavski's system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultivates what he calls the "art of experiencing" ...

, with the movement work of

Rudolf Laban Rudolf von Laban, also known as Rudolf Laban (German; also ''Rudolph von Laban'', hu, Lábán Rezső János Attila, Lábán Rudolf; 15 December 1879 – 1 July 1958), was an Austro-Hungarian, German and British dance artist, choreographer and ...

and the character typology of

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

to produce a 'movement psychology' for the analysis and development of characters. Its work also drew on the English tradition, particularly that of

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

and

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West En ...

. These approaches were taught as part of the Western theatrical tradition that began with the Greeks, on which the school placed great emphasis. When the school was founded, it was England's only drama school with an acting class, and was considered the first

Method Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...

drama school in Britain. Because of its rigour, the school's nickname was "Trauma Center". Like most drama schools, Drama Centre placed a particular emphasis on the work of

Konstantin Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian Soviet Fe ...

, also training students in improvisation through the

Yevgeny Vakhtangov Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the ...

and

Jacques Lecoq Jacques Lecoq (15 December 1921 – 19 January 1999) was a French stage actor and acting movement coach. He was best known for his teaching methods in physical theatre, movement, and mime which he taught at the school he founded in Paris known as ...

traditions. It offered a theatre-based training incorporating both modern and classical texts; and prepared actors for the demands of screen acting, for which it had a two-year postgraduate course. In September 2005, it launched its MA Acting course (formerly 'European Classical Acting') including residencies at both the Vakhtangov Theatre Institute in Moscow and Imalis Center for Ancient Hellenic Theatre in Epidaurus, Greece. The Drama Centre was the first British drama school to introduce some of the great classics of the Spanish, German and French repertoires, a precedent reflected in connections between many schools in the UK, US, Russia and China. In March 2020 UAL announced that they were to close the Drama Centre, following an unfavourable review of the centre's provision for academic development, quality assurance and equal opportunities. Students currently enrolled would complete their training.

Platform Theatre

The Platform Theatre is a receiving and producing theatre in the Central Saint Martin's complex at King's Cross. It holds 360 in a variety of configurations, has an orchestra pit and a full flying tower and is equipped to high professional standards. It aims to present all aspects of the performing arts. Productions by students of Drama Centre London were presented there, and work by students of other colleges of the University of the Arts, London.

Alumni

The following are former students of Drama Centre London:

References

External links

* {{authority control Drama schools in London Schools of the performing arts in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 1963 1963 establishments in England