London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Encyclopedia
Drama school
A drama school or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution ; which specialises in the pre-professional training in drama and theatre arts, such as acting, design and technical theatre, arts administration, and...
in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
and its new principal is Joanna Read
Joanna Read
Joanna Read is a British theatre director and librettist, and the newly instated Principal of LAMDA. She is also the academy's first ever female Principal.-Career:...
, who recently succeeded Peter James. Celebrating its 150th Anniversary in 2011, LAMDA is the oldest drama school in the
United Kingdom, and in recent years, over 98% of LAMDA's stage management & technical theatre
graduates have found work in their chosen field within weeks of graduation. It is registered as a company under the name Lamda Ltd and as a charity under its trading name London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. There is an associate company in America under the name LAMDA in America, Inc., previously known as The American Friends of LAMDA.
History
In the last decade, LAMDA has made particular developments: a relocation to a larger and more visible home on the Talgarth Road in West London has enabled LAMDA to further develop the campus and training facilities; furthermore, in June 2004, the Academy became an affiliate of the prestigious Conservatoire for Dance and Drama . Today the Academy is synonymous with professionally trained actors and theatre technicians. Not only are LAMDA graduated annually recognised at international award ceremonies, but LAMDA has equally gained a reputation as a source of critically acclaimed new writing with two plays (Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.His most famous plays include Shopping and Fucking , Some Explicit Polaroids and Mother Clap's Molly House . He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
's Mother Clap's Molly House, Meat/Money/Jesus and Di Trevis
Di Trevis
Diane Trevis is an English theatre director. She was born in Birmingham and educated at Sussex University. After eight years as an actress, she began directing in 1981....
' Remembrance of Things Past) devised and first performed at LAMDA before transferring to the National Theatre and beyond. A further new work, Robin Soans
Robin Soans
Robin Soans is an actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include Across the Divide ; A State Affair which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced by Out of Joint theatre company; The Arab Israeli Cookbook ; Talking to Terrorists Robin Soans (born...
’ Mixed Up North, toured as an Out of Joint production in 2009, directed by Max Stafford-Clark
Max Stafford-Clark
Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart Stafford-Clark is an English Theatre Director.-Life and career:He went to school at Felsted and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He has worked as a theatre director since he left Trinity College, Dublin.His directing career began as associate director of...
and featuring Celia Imrie
Celia Imrie
Celia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...
as well as LAMDA graduates.
The institutions that combined to form LAMDA date from 1861 and include the London Academy of Music founded by Henry Wylde
Henry Wylde
Henry Wylde was a conductor, composer, teacher and music critic.Henry Wylde was born at Bushey, Hertfordshire, the elder son of Henry Wylde and Martha Lucy née Paxton. His father, then the organist at St Mary's Watford, was himself a music teacher...
in 1867. In the 1880s the academy began offering speech examinations to the public and since then these examinations have been refined and developed into a comprehensive system of performance evaluation.
Always based in West London, LAMDA moved into Tower House in Earls Court in 1946, (where it was until 2003). The MacOwan Theatre was custom-built as a performing space for LAMDA a couple of streets away in 1963. Since 2003, LAMDA has occupied a building near Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, previously used by the Royal Ballet School
Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...
. In addition,
Having successfully purchased the remainder of the land at the western end in 2006, the Academy now owns the full footprint of the site. Since moving to the Borough, the Academy has enjoyed collaborating with the local community on a range of cultural and educational initiatives. Through a year-round programme of free theatre performances, the Academy also regularly invites residents to enjoy its work.
Curriculum
In 2004, LAMDA joined the Conservatoire for Dance and DramaConservatoire for Dance and Drama
The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama is a higher education institution in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2001 to co-ordinate the activities of a number of affiliated schools providing higher-level vocational training in the performing arts...
through which it receives Government funding. All eligible students from UK / EU on the Three and Two Year Acting and Two Year Stage Management & Technical Theatre courses now receive funded places as at other Higher Education institutions. The Three Year Acting course leads to a BA (Hons) qualification. The Two Year Acting and the Two Year Stage Management & Technical Theatre courses lead to a Foundation degree qualification. The One Year Classical Acting course leads to a Postgraduate Diploma qualification (PG Dip). The Three, Two and One Year Acting courses and the Two Year Stage Management & Technical Theatre courses are validated by the University of Kent
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
. Course content remains unchanged under the qualifications: practical, vocational training for the profession. LAMDA has a number of short courses which enable students to gain experience of the LAMDA training. The LAMDA Faculty comprises experienced permanent staff and external professionals and specialists working throughout the industry. The school also offers Foundation Courses and courses in more specialised fields, such as Directing, Movement, Design and so on.
The group work ethic is central to LAMDA's teaching. The training does not deconstruct the student in order to rebuild a LAMDA product but encourages and develops innate skills. The courses are practical not academic. Class times are Monday - Friday 9am - 5.30pm with some evening and weekend classes. All classes are compulsory. There is a minimum age requirement of 18 at course commencement and no upper age limit. The only exceptions are 2 summer schools - Audition Technique and Introduction to Drama School - for which the minimum age requirement is 16. Further information can be found on the course information pages of this site or the LAMDA prospectus.
Executive Board
- Executive Board President: Timothy WestTimothy WestTimothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
CBE FRSA - Vice-President: Janet SuzmanJanet SuzmanDame Janet Suzman, DBE is a South African-born-British actress and director.-Early life:Janet Suzman was born in Johannesburg to a Jewish family, the daughter of Betty and Saul Suzman, a wealthy importer of tobacco....
- Chairman: Luke Rittner
- Vice-Chairman: Harold Sanditen
- Other Board member: Hugh Bullock, James Cane, Kay Ellen Consolver, Kevin Fitzmaurice, Anthony Gordon-Lennox, Gerard Hargreaves, Doreen Jones, Paterson JosephPaterson Joseph-Career:Born in London. Attended Cardinal Hinsley R.C High School in North West London. Joseph first trained at the Studio '68 of Theatre Arts, London – 1983–85 with Robert Henderson, then at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art . In recent years he has had a high number of roles in...
, Victoria Legge-Bourke LVO, Timothy Oakley, Mark Schnebli, Dallas SmithDallas SmithDallas Earl Smith is a former National Hockey League defenceman who played fifteen seasons for the Boston Bruins.-Playing career:...
, Sue Stapely, Richard Szpiro, Thomas Vaughan, Wilf Weeks OBE
Advisory Council
- Anna Calder-MarshallAnna Calder-MarshallAnna Calder-Marshall is a British actress.Her husband is actor David Burke and her son is actor Tom Burke.-Filmography:-External links:...
- Brian Cox CBE
- Nichola McAuliffeNichola McAuliffeNichola McAuliffe is an English television and stage actress and writer, best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the sitcom Surgical Spirit.-Background:McAuliffe was born in 1955 in Surrey, England...
- Sam MendesSam MendesSamuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
- Michael Oliver
- Simone Reynolds
- Sir Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
CBE FRSA - David SuchetDavid SuchetDavid Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
OBE - Brian Tilston LLAM Hons.
- Harriet WalterHarriet WalterDame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
CBE - Matthew WarchusMatthew Warchus-Life:Warchus studied music and drama at Bristol University. He has directed for the National Youth Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and in the West...
- Michael White
Honorary Fellows
- Norman AyrtonNorman AyrtonNorman Ayrton is an actor, director, and theatre instructor. He was born in London, England on 25 September 1924. As a young man, Ayrton's home was bombed during the London Blitz, forcing him to relocate to the countryside. He later described this experience as having given him the courage to...
- Eileen CollinsEileen CollinsEileen Marie Collins is a retired American astronaut and a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Col. Collins has logged 38 days 8...
LLAM Hons - Colin Cook
- Zoë DominicZoë DominicZoë Dominic was a British dance and theatre photographer.Dominic's work as a theatre photographer began in the Royal Court Theatre around 1957, and she became known for photographing the postwar British theatre revival, including actors such as Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith and...
OBE - The Rev. Michael Forrest
- Brian Tilston LLAM (Hons) FLAM