Academy Drama School

The Academy Drama School (often referred to as the Academy) is a British drama school located in Whitechapel, east London.

The Academy was founded in 1985 by the late Tim Reynolds and his wife Judith. They saw the need for a drama school offering "full and professional instruction for those with the desire and talent, but not the money or local authority grant to pay for it". Accordingly, they devised the Full Time Evening Course, a two-year (six-term) programme which enables students to earn a living from a daytime job, while pursuing an intensive drama training at the school in the evenings and weekends.

The school was initially located at very modest premises in Oxford Street, but the rapid rise in demand for the Evening Course soon necessitated a move to its current location in Whitechapel. This course remains the core of the school's activities, but the Academy has since also established a one-year (three-term) Postgraduate course and a one-year (three-term) drama school access course ('The Medallion Course'). For both these latter courses, classes are taught during the daytime. Entrance to all three courses is by audition, and there is intense competition for places.

The Academy offers a variety of shorter courses, some oriented towards leisure but all offering the same high standard of teaching as on the vocational courses.

The school has its own theatre space on-site (The Andrew Sketchley Theatre), in which all in-house productions during the training are performed. However, those graduating the Full Time and Postgraduate courses have their final production presented at a London fringe venue. There is also a showcase staged for these graduates, which is presented to an invited audience of agents and casting directors at a West End theatre (in recent years, the venue for this has been the Fortune Theatre or the Duchess Theatre).

Alumni

Graduates of the Academy's various courses have gone on to work for esteemed theatre institutions such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, or in successful plays and musicals in London's West End and on national/international tours. Others have appeared in films, or in television shows ranging from Doctor Who to Little Britain to Band of Brothers. Some of the school's alumni include:

External links

Academy Drama School website

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