The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senate House complex of the University of London and is a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools.
It is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, founded in 1904 by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. It moved to buildings on Gower Street in 1905. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1920 and a new theatre was built on Malet Street, behind the Gower Street buildings that was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1921. It received its first government subsidy in 1924. RADA currently has five theatres and a cinema. The school’s Principal Industry Partner is Warner Bros. Entertainment.
RADA offers a number of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Its higher education awards are validated by King's College London (KCL). The Royal Patron of the school is King Charles III, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. The President is Sir Kenneth Branagh, who succeeded Richard, Lord Attenborough, following his death in 2014. The Chairman is Marcus Ryder, who succeeded Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen in 2021. Its Vice-Chairman was Alan Rickman until his death in 2016. The current Principal of the Academy is Niamh Dowling, who succeeded Edward Kemp in 2022.
History
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) was founded on 25 April 1904 by actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the West End's Her Majesty's Theatre (now His Majesty's) situated in Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. In 1905, RADA moved to 62 Gower Street, and a managing council was set up to oversee the school. Its members included George Bernard Shaw, who later donated his royalties from his play Pygmalion to RADA, and gave lectures to students at the school. In 1920, RADA was granted a Royal Charter, and in 1921, a new theatre was built on Malet Street, behind the Gower Street buildings. Edward, Prince of Wales, opened the theatre. In 1923, Sir John Gielgud studied at RADA for a year. He later became President of the Academy, and its first Honorary Fellow. 1924 saw RADA's first government subsidy, a grant of £500. The Gower Street buildings were torn down in 1927 and replaced with a new building, financed by George Bernard Shaw, who also left one-third of his royalties to the Academy on his death in 1950. The Academy has received other government funding at various times throughout its history, including a £22.7m grant from the Arts Council National Lottery Board, which was used to renovate its premises and rebuild the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre.
In 2000 the Academy founded RADA Enterprises Ltd, now known as RADA Business, providing training programmes and coaching for organisations and individuals in communications and team building that uses drama training techniques in a business context. The profits are fed back into the Academy to help cover the costs.
In 2001, RADA joined with the London Contemporary Dance School to create the UK's first Conservatoire for Dance and Drama (CDD). RADA left the CDD in August 2019 to become an independent higher education provider. RADA is also a founder member of the Federation of Drama Schools, established in 2017. In 2004, celebrity photographer Cambridge Jones was commissioned to create a body of work published as a book, Off Stage: 100 Portraits Celebrating the RADA Centenary, in 2005 to celebrate RADA's centenerary. The photographs include John Hurt, Alan Rickman, Sheila Hancock, Edward Woodward, Sir Ian Holm, Robert Lindsay, Joan Collins, Tom Courtenay, Warren Mitchell, Imelda Staunton, June Whitfield, Richard Briers, Jane Horrocks, Glenda Jackson, Juliet Stevenson, Jonathan Pryce, Kenneth Branagh, Ioan Gruffud, Susannah York, Timothy Spall, Liza Tarbuck, and Michael Kitchen. In 2011, The Lir Academy was established in association with RADA at Trinity College Dublin, with the partnership of the Cathal Ryan Trust. Following RADA’s conservatoire-style, practical theatre training, The Lir Academy modelled its courses after the London-based school. RADA has been registered with the Office for Students as a higher education institution since July 2018.
In July 2020, the then Principal Edward Kemp responded to the Black Lives Matter movement by acknowledging that "RADA has been and currently is institutionally racist" and set out in detail its plans to change.