In which we think about Drama Schools and University Drama Departments and work our way through ‘Falling Off A Wall: Degrees of Change in British Actor Training’ Ben Frankombe's essential paper on the History of Actor Training between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Support the show

In which we discuss how Philip Hedley came to join the first cohort of East 15 Acting School in the autumn of 1961 and examine something of the complex relationship between the school, it’s founder Maggie Bury and the work of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop. The cover shows the blue plaque which celebrates Margaret Bury and Joan Littlewood outsi…

In which we celebrate the Sixtieth Birthday of East 15 in the first of two special podcasts. The cover shows blossom in the grounds of the Debden campus earlier this year. Support the show

In which we discuss Nicolai Demidov and his School of Acting with Andrei Biziorek of the Demidov Studio London. Links for the London studio and the Demidov Association can be found here : The studio: www.demidovstudiolondon.uk The association: www.demidovassociation.com Support the show

In which we prepare for a new term by reading Chapter 8 of Nicolai Demidov’s book ‘The Art of Living Onstage From a Theatre Teacher’s Laboratory Translated by Andrei Malaev-Babel and Alexandra Rojavin. The studio: www.demidovstudiolondon.uk The association: www.demidovassociation.com Support the show…

In which we discuss the career of teacher and intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien and understand why Michaela Coel chose to thank Ita for her work when she won the leading actress award at the 2021 Baftas. These are some of the intimacy on Set guidelines discussed in the podcast. Intimacy on Set Guidelines Best practice when working with intimacy, sim…

In which we discuss the professional life of Penny Cherns. Penny trained on the Directors’ Course at the Drama Centre after completing a sociology degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury. She worked as Joan Littlewood’s assistant and then continued as a freelance director up to the Millennium in major provincial repertory theatres directing …

In which we talk about Doreen Cannon. One of the most important figures in the history of British Actor training. With very special guests Annie Tyson and John Bechizza. John Beschizza John is the Lead Acting Tutor at Rada and teaches Acting Technique and Scene Study on the BA (Hons). RADA. He trained at The Drama Centre under co-founders Christoph…

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In which we compare two experiences of the British Drama School and prepare for conversations about Doreen Cannon. Support the show

In which we read John Gielgud’s views on Stanislavsky. From January 1937. Support the show

This episode includes an extract from Vladimir Mirodan’s excellent paper The first class: Harold Lang and the beginnings of Stanislavskian teaching in the British conservatoire. Support the show

In which we discuss Jean Benedetti; Rose Bruford and Lamda’s recent NSS results and why Stanislavsky really wrote his books. Support the show

In which we read Saint Denis’ essay on the application of the Stanislavsky approach, and it’s American interpretation as the method, to the plays of Shakespeare…and perhaps understand something about the ideas underpinning the teaching at the LTS and the Old Vic School. The image is of Susanne Bing as Viola. Support the show…

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In which a special guest tells us the story of how a young Chinese Couple became amongst the tiny number of people who studied at the London Theatre Studio in Islington just before the outbreak of the Second World War and of how they brought the ideas and pedagogy of Copeau and Suzanne Bing to the People’s Republic of China. Support the show…

In which we look to understand something about the nature of the London Theatre Studio the school founded by Michel Saint Denis in a disused Methodist Chapel in Islington in 1936. Cover picture is of a woolwork by Merula Salaman an actor at the LTS. Sophie Jump's PhD can be found here : https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/9194/1/Sophie%2…

In Memoriam Oliver Neville 1929 - 2021. Rada's Principal from 1984 to 1993. Support the showRobert Price

The image is of candidates for the Academy of Dramatic Art auditioning in 1911. Support the show

Tanmay Dhanania is an actor. He studied Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley and then trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has acted in UK tv shows like New Tricks for the BBC, Indian Summers for Channel 4 and The Durrells in Corfu for itv. He has also acted in and produced independent films like Brahman Naman which premiered …

An investigation into the only consistently successful institutional actor training of the 19th Century: Sarah Thorne’s Theatre Royal in Margate including an account of Winnifred Dolan’s training there in 1890. Support the showRobert Price

In this episode we revisit Clive Barker’s essay from 1995: What Training - for What Theatre? And wonder how far we have come in the intervening 27 years. Support the show

A conversation about acting and training, choices and chances with the actor Michael Balogun, who graduated from Rada in 2017. Support the show

Isabella Verrico, King Boateng, Naz Yeni, Che Francis and Robert Price participate in a conversation about the possibilities and risks of training in the Drama School recorded on Saturday 27th April 2021. The discussion was facilitated by Dr. Sarah Weston of The University of Bolton. Sarah is a Lecturer in Theatre and Performance specialising in ap…

As we move towards a kind of deregulation of Actor training we establish the relationship between the CDD and NCDT find out how they relate to the Gulbenkian Report and discover what happened to Drama UK. Support the show

In this episode we discuss new models and ideas for the training of actors with Principal Thomasina Unsworth and Head of Acting Phillip Edgerley of Brighton's new Institute for Contemporary Theatre. Support the show

In a conversation with Ben Naylor we discuss acting Shakespeare, beyond concerns with metre and prosody, along with exploring the place and status of post graduate courses within the conservatoire. Ben Naylor is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader MA Acting Classical at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Support the show…

A conversation with Professor Ros Steen. Professor Ros Steen FRCS. MA. DSD. IPA. Ros Steen has worked as a Voice specialist for Theatre, Film and TV for over thirty five years with more than two hundred and fifty credits to her name including work for, among many others, the National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh International Festival, Citizens’ …

A wide ranging conversation with Dr Phillipa Burt about ensemble theatre, its place in the history of British Theatre and the relationship between that story and ideas within the Drama School. Philippa Burt is a lecturer in theatre and performance theory and Director of the MA Performance and Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, in the Departme…

In this episode we congratulate the new principal of Central Josette Bushell-Mingo on her appointment and look back on the brief and curious history of the Company of Youth also known as the Rank Charm School. And it’s principal the much mocked Molly Terraine https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p059083r/tuesday-documentary-the-rank-charm-school S…

In this episode Robert discusses the Meisner Technique its practise and place in the British Drama School with Dr Philippa Strandberg-Long. Philippa has published several excellent papers on the Meisner technique : Mapping Meisner – how Stanislavski’s system influenced Meisner’s process and why it matters to British Drama School training today and …

In this episode we look at the decline of the Stock System the emergence of the Long Run and what was said at the opening ceremony of 'Mr Tree's School' the Academy of Dramatic Art on April 25th 1904. The image is of His Majesty’s Theatre where his school began before moving to its current location in Bloomsbury. Support the show…

ABIGAIL ROKISON-WOODALL Abigail began her career as a professional actor, training at LAMDA. She completed her PhD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University in 2006 after which she became a lecturer in Drama and English in the Education Faculty in Cambridge. In January 2013 she became Lecturer in Shakespeare and Theatre at the Shakespeare Institute, Un…

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In this episode Stephen Macht describes how a chance meeting with Michel Saint Denis after a performance of Danton's Death at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire led him to attend the Lamda of Michael MacOwen and Norman Ayrton in the 1960's, how it was Brian Cox that told him Kennedy had been assassinated and how he returned to Lamda a few years lat…

In this edition Robert discusses the deep roots of the British Drama School in the French avant garde and wonders does the modern drama school start under the dome of His Majesty's Theatre or on the left bank of Paris in the Theatre du Vieux Colombier ? Support the show

In this special bonus episode, Alex Bingley, voice teacher, interviews Professor Nadia Kevan about her journey and approach to integrating the Alexander Technique in to the professional training of dancers, actors and singers. Nadia Kevan is English dancer , dance teacher , choreographer and movement teacher . She lives in Nijmegen , the Netherland…

In this episode Robert talks to Ed Hicks newly appointed principal of the Oxford School of Drama. Ed was previously Head of Film at Rada and before that a professional film maker and actor. Support the show

In this episode recorded on Christmas Day, Robert recounts the sad tale Fanny Kelly's disastrous attempt to launch the Royalty Theatre and Dramatic School on Dean Street in Soho between 1840 and 1849. This episode includes an account of Samuel Pepys visit to the nursery theatre of George Jolly in 1668. Support the show…

In this episode, recorded live at East 15 in November 2020, Gerry McAlpine, a graduate of the school and currently head of the First year of the BA and Cert HE, talks about the spirit at the heart of Margaret Walker's drama school, established to promote and develop the ideas and working methods of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. The other voic…

In this episode Robert, Angie Herzberg, Lou Saucell and Alex Bingley continue discussing the Alexander Technique within Actor Training. Support the show

In this episode Robert discusses the place of the Alexander Technique in the British Drama School with Alexander Teachers Angie Herzberg and Lou Saucell and voice teacher from Lamda, Italia Conti and the Drama Centre, Alex Bingley. After more than forty years as a fundamental underpinning for the training of students across all the courses that Lam…

In this episode Robert talks to Alan Stanford, Artistic Director of PICT Pittsburgh's Classic Theatre about his training at the Guildhall, King Lear, Beckett and other things besides. Robert can be contacted at robertprice1869@gmail.com Below are the direct links to the digital offerings that Alan Stanford mentioned on the podcast today from PICT C…

In this episode Lizzie and Robert discuss the work of Trish Arnold, teaching in lockdown and the potential politics of transformation. Lizzie can be contacted at elizabethballinger@yahoo.com and if you would like to talk to Robert : robertprice1869@gmail.com Support the show

In this episode we continue the conversation with David covering topics including how the Central MA in Voice Studeies evolved and developed and discuss why the Voice faculty of British Drama Schools was so white. If you want to contact Robert about the podcast please do: robertprice1869@gmail.com Support the show…

In the first of two episodes David discusses his journey towards taking over the Voice teacher training course at The Central School of Speech and Drama in the 1980s. Support the showRobert Price

The second part of a conversation with James Kemp. Amongst other things we discuss how Anthony Hopkins marks up his script after reading it several hundred times. Support the show

In this episode we explore in detail one of the four pillars of the Drama Centre's pedagogy, the Yat Malmgren application of the work of Laban and Carpenter into actor training as Character Analysis, its place at the Drama Centre and Lamda and how that history is drawing to a close. Support the show

In this episode Robert reads extracts from Rosina Filippi's book Hints to Speakers and Players and discusses her relationship with the important teacher and actor Herman Vezin in order to gain some insight into teaching within the institutions of Edwardian actor training. Support the show

In this episode Robert discusses the Drama Centre with Annie Tyson who describes the four pillars of teaching that underpinned the foundation of an acting conservatoire which, along perhaps with the short lived Old Vic School of Michel Saint Denis, could comfortably stake a claim to be the most radically influential institution in the history of pr…