Page 238 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

’ D r a m a s c h o o l w a s t o u g h , b u t i t g a v e m e t o o l s I
u s e t o t h i s d a y ’ – A c t o r S i m o n C a l l o w

For Callow, and thousands of others who have built successful and fulfilling careers
as actors – or used the rigour of their training to move into other professions –
British drama schools are beacons of excellence. The training has worked for them.
But for many others, including some of the current students and alumni of major
institutions, drama schools have become a symbol of all that is wrong with British
theatre: they argue the institutions are out of touch, inaccessible, classist, elitist and
racist, and they need to change, and change fast.

Clash of opinions

These differing views set up a potential clash between those, such as Callow, who
accept that drama schools need to change and grow, but fear that new leadership is
creating revolution not evolution, and those who argue that radical change of student
intake, curriculum and faculty is long overdue, and without it British drama schools
risk becoming irrelevant. Some of the major flashpoints are over Stanislavski, the
rise of self-led work and the teaching of craft.

“Craft and technique seem to be becoming dirty words in some places,” says RADA
teacher Annie Tyson. She worries that in the rush to implement change in drama
schools – something she wholeheartedly supports – there is a danger of throwing
Stanislavski and years of accumulated expertise out with the bathwater.

“Craft takes time and patience. It’s not a sweetshop from which you can pick and
choose as you want,” she says. “But once you have the craft, you have enormous
freedom. And if you know how to do something, you can then experiment, and that’s
exciting.”

Robert Price, an experienced teacher at LAMDA and previously RADA, also sounds a
note of caution. “Raising questions around representation and the development of
inclusive pedagogies is necessary and valuable,” he says, “but not if that comes with
a disregard for expertise.”

He continues: “I’m not convinced the drama school model that has evolved over 120
years of continuous experimentation, and is considered to be world class, should be
changed overnight and that moving swiftly without thought is useful. Why not build
forward on the knowledge and expertise that has been gathered by a whole bunch of
people over a long time, rather than try to reinvent acting all over again?”

Few would dispute that it has been an uncomfortable few years for drama schools in
the UK. For decades, they have been feted for delivering some of the most admired
training in the world and developing some of its most remarkable actors. But, more
recently, what drama schools do, how they do it, what is on the curriculum, who
teaches within their walls and who gets to train has come under intense, and
sometimes uncomfortable, scrutiny.