Royal Central School
| Type |
Public university Drama school |
|---|---|
| Established | 1906 2005: Incorporated into the University of London |
| Chancellor | The Princess Royal (University of London) |
| Principal | Gavin Henderson |
| Students | 1,045 (2015/16) |
| Undergraduates | 655 (2015/16) |
| Postgraduates | 390 (2015/16) |
| Location | London, England |
| Campus | Urban |
| Affiliations | University of London |
| Website | www |
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The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906 to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a constituent of the University of London in 2005 and its prominent alumni include Laurence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Judi Dench and Harold Pinter.
The school offers undergraduate, postgraduate, research degrees, and short courses in acting, actor training, applied theatre, theatre crafts and making, design, drama therapy, movement, musical theatre, performance, producing, puppetry, research, scenography, stage management, teacher training, technical arts, voice, and writing.
On 9 October 2008 the school announced that Harold Pinter (1930–2008), the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature and Central alumnus, had agreed to become its president and to receive an honorary fellowship in the school's graduation ceremony on 10 December 2008, but Pinter had to receive it in absentia, because of ill health, and he died two weeks later.Michael Grandage, a Central graduate and artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, has now been appointed President.
Elsie Fogerty founded The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art at the Royal Albert Hall in 1906. Fogerty was a specialist in speech training and held a firm belief in the social importance of education. She was committed to advancing the study of theatre as an academic discipline.
In 1957 the school moved from the Royal Albert Hall, having acquired the lease of the Embassy Theatre at Swiss Cottage and its associated buildings. By 1961 three distinct departments had been established within Central. The stage department was running its three-year course for actors, with alumni including Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft already a part of its history, and a two-year course for stage managers. The teacher training department was preparing students for its own diploma, which was a recognised teaching qualification, and for the London University Diploma in Dramatic Art. That diploma had been instituted in 1912 as a result of Fogerty's campaign for the recognition of drama and drama teaching as subjects worthy of serious academic study. By this time, the school was as known for its speech therapy department as for its work in training actors.
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