In this episode, recorded live at East 15 in November 2020, Gerry McAlpine, a graduate of the school and currently head of the First year of the BA and Cert HE, talks about the spirit at the heart of Margaret Walker's drama school, established to promote and develop the ideas and working methods of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. The other voice you will hear sometimes is that of Andrea Brooks who currently runs the MA acting degree at East 15. The photograph is of the pond dug as part of the living history project a good example of East 15's working methods. Support the show ..read more

Tanmay Dhanania is an actor. He studied Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley and then trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has acted in UK tv shows like New Tricks for the BBC, Indian Summers for Channel 4 and The Durrells in Corfu for itv. He has also acted in and produced independent films like Brahman Naman which premiered in competition at Sundance 2016 and became India's first Netflix Original and Garbage which premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale 2018 and also was acquired by Netflix. Tanmay acted in and produced the film Cat Sticks which won the Jury ..read more

The second part of a conversation with James Kemp. Amongst other things we discuss how Anthony Hopkins marks up his script after reading it several hundred times. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more

In this introductory episode I explain briefly why I've decided to make this podcast and what I want to achieve with it.   Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more

In this episode Robert talks to Ed Hicks newly appointed principal of the Oxford School of Drama. Ed was previously Head of Film at Rada and before that a professional film maker and actor.   Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more

In this episode we discuss a simple set of views on what curriculums are and what they do.  The episode explores this set of possible curricula Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted. A conservative approach. Related to the canon. Curriculum designed to achieve a particular end in students - a scientific or neo-liberal approach. Concerned with jobs and what society needs economically. Curriculum as process - developmentally focused - in harmony with a student’s interests. Curriculum as praxis. The social justice focused curricula of the social meliorists. Concerned with ana ..read more

In which we think about Drama Schools and University Drama Departments and work our way through ‘Falling Off A Wall: Degrees of Change in British Actor Training’ Ben Frankombe's essential and paper on the History of Actor Training between the 1970s and the early 2000s.  Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more

In this edition Robert discusses the deep roots of the British Drama School in the French avant garde and wonders does the modern drama school start under the dome of His Majesty's Theatre or on the left bank of Paris in the Theatre du Vieux Colombier ?     Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more

An investigation into the only consistently successful institutional actor training of the 19th Century: Sarah Thorne’s Theatre Royal in Margate including an account of Winnifred Dolan’s training there in 1890.  Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more

In this episode Lizzie and Robert discuss the work of Trish Arnold, teaching in lockdown and the potential politics of transformation. Lizzie can be contacted at elizabethballinger@yahoo.com and if you would like to talk to Robert : robertprice1869@gmail.com  Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=EKHEKXBAZBQG6&currency_code=GBP ..read more