Academy Drama School

The Academy was founded by Tim Reynolds and his wife Judith in 1985 as the Evening Academy of Dramatic Art (EADA). They saw the need for a drama school offering 'professional' instruction for those with the desire and 'talent', but not the money or local authority grant to pay for it, although they still had to pay fees every term. Accordingly, they put together the Full Time Evening Course, a two-year (six-term) programme which enabled students to earn a living from a daytime job, while pursuing an intensive drama training at the school in the evenings and weekends. The school was initially located at cold and damp premises in Oxford Street, but the rapid rise in demand for the Evening…

On the closure of the Academy, then principal Daniel Brennan established a new drama school in Wapping, called Actor Works. The new school offers a full-time evening course, a foundation course in acting and a postgraduate course in a similar tradition to the Academy. A new Part-Time acting course began in January 2007, and various part-time specialist courses for professional actors started in 2009. At the inception of The Actor Works on 18 December 2006, all mid-course Academy students were offered places and given the opportunity to complete their training at the new school. The great majority accepted a place at The Actor Works. Many former Academy tutors also joined the staff of the…