The
East 15 Acting School (Hatfields / Loughton
campus)
East 15 is a British
drama school in
Debden
, Loughton
, Essex. It occupies an 18th century mansion,
Hatfields, and has its own theatre, the Corbett, which is adjacent.
The Corbett Theatre is an adaptation of a 15th-century barn.
The school
is accredited by the National Council for Drama
Training and its degrees are awarded by the University of
Essex
, with which it merged on 1
September 2000. The area of Debden and
Loughton is linked to central London
via the
London Underground.
History
East 15 Acting School was founded in 1961 by Margaret Walker.
It grew
from the work of Joan Littlewood's
famed Theatre Workshop, and the
school's name acknowledges its debt - Joan Littlewood's Theatre
Workshop was based at the Theatre Royal
, Stratford, London
, whose postal district is E15.
Much of the Littlewood approach was based upon the theories of
Konstantin Stanislavski, and
the company inherited the socially committed spirit of the Unity
Theatre movement, which brought many new voices into British
theatre for the first time. Theatre Workshop broke new ground,
re-interpreting the classics for a modern age, commissioning new
plays from socially committed writers, and creating an ensemble
capable of inventing new work, such as the now legendary "
Oh, What a Lovely War!". Littlewood
created an ensemble, who combined inspired, improvisational
brilliance with method, technique, research, text analysis, and the
expression of real emotions. Over the years, new training methods
were evolved to strip actors of affectations, attitudes and ego
trips. The quest was always to search for truth: of oneself, the
character, the text.
Present day
Campuses
East 15
Acting School occupies two campuses; Loughton and Southend on Sea
. Courses taught at Loughton include Acting,
Contemporary Theatre, Community Theatre, Specialist Performance
Skills and Technical Theatre.
Courses taught at Southend include Physical Theatre, Performance
& Popular Culture, World Performance, Community Theatre,
Directing and Acting.
Courses
East 15 continues to commission new work. The school offers both BA
and MA degrees. The three year BA (Hons) Acting degree is
accredited by the
National Council for Drama
Training. This means that the actors who graduate from this
course are allowed automatic entry into
Actors' Equity, the professional actors'
union. With the first year providing more of an introduction to
everything that gets built on later, work looks at acting, use of
voice for drama and singing, and also various aspects of movement.
The
Living History at the end of this year allows students
to live the lives of others from a specific moment in history. The
second year looks deeper into the foundations constructed in Year
1, and also deals with challenging texts (including
Shakespeare and
Brecht).
The third year not only increases students' repertoire in acting
for TV, film and radio, but also holds a series of performances of
a wide range of plays. A showcase for invited agents and casting
directors in a major West End theatre is held at the end of the
year.
The school also runs a Contemporary Theatre course. This aims to
offer training which will prepare actors for the challenges of new
ways of working in the performance arts. The training relates in
methodology to the work of contemporary companies such as
Complicite, Improbable Theatre and Kneehigh.
Other undergraduate courses include; Physical Theatre, Performance
Studies & Popular Culture, World Theatre Community Theatre,
Specialist Performance Skills (Stage Combat) and Technical Theatre.
Postgraduate courses include Directing and Acting.
Graduate work
East 15 has produced many actors, directors, teachers and
designers.
In Britain, theatre companies such as
The Royal Court
Theatre
, Bush
Theatre
, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Manchester
Library
Theatre
have been headed by East 15 graduates.
Companies
including Orchard Theatre, Bruvvers, Scarlet blade theatre, Lumiere and
Son, Hull Truck
Theatre
, Spare Tyre, Footsbarn, Women’s Theatre Company and The
Half Moon Theatre, in Stepney
have been
created by East 15 graduates.
From
1998-2006, the school was led by John Baraldi, former Chief
Executive of Riverside
Studios
, London, until he was appointed Dean of Arts
Educational Schools London in 2006. East 15 Acting School is
now run by Professor Leon Rubin.
Accommodation for students
Like many
drama schools, East 15
Acting School does not have
halls of
residence for its students.
Despite now being part of the University of
Essex, the university campus is not near the East 15
site. Instead, there are various options open to East 15
students.
The first of these is rentable houses or rooms. Students must
contact local landlords and property owners, who may have rooms or
whole houses to rent for a year. In some cases, groups of students
may need to be formed before a landlord commits to an offer.
There is also the opportunity to board with host families. These
are generally the cheaper option, in which a student can take up
residence alongside the houseowner(s).
Alumni
Notable graduates from East 15 include:
See also
References
- "Conference of Drama Schools - East 15 Acting
School" Retrieved 26 May 2008
- "East 15 Acting School: University of
Essex" Retrieved 26 May 2008
- "East 15 Acting School: Campus Resources"
Retrieved 26 May 2008
- "East 15 Acting School: Campus Resources"
Retrieved 26 May 2008
- "East 15 Acting School: BA (Hons) Acting Course (3
year)" Retrieved 26 May 2008
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