Welcome to London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art

                                          

A world-leading Higher Education provider, we offer exceptional vocational training to actors, stage managers, technicians, directors and designers, regardless of their background or economic circumstances.

We are also an awarding organisation, delivering world-renowned qualifications in communication and performance and inspiring the next generation of confident communicators through our examinations in drama, literature and poetry.
We believe drama has the power to transform lives. We want more people to share in this experience through training, qualifications, work, productions and facilities.
OUR WORK
Conservatoire training is, by its nature, selective as we train only the best – limiting our course numbers and teaching in small groups. The ensemble is at the heart of our work; drama is a collaborative art form and our training stresses the importance of collaboration to achieve excellence. The training is vocational because drama is a vocation and we are training students for a profession. The training is practical because drama is about doing and being.
We offer an inventive environment for artistic development; our commissioning and creative programme gives artists and practitioners time to reflect, examine their own practice and contribute to an ever-evolving industry.
We also strive for excellence in the development and assessment of our examinations so that we are respected as the leading awarding organisation in this discipline.

OUR FUTURE
By the end of 2016, we will have completed our new building, a major milestone in our growth and development. This £28million project will provide full accommodation for our Drama School and Examinations departments, state-of-the-art training facilities and two new theatres, increasing our audience capacity by over 300. The building will be a highly visible flagship on the way in to London, giving the school a new profile and accessibility. It will also enable us to be a greater resource within our home borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

LAMDA is the oldest drama school in the UK. Founded in 1861 as the London Academy of Music, we were the first such institution to offer acting tuition – defining LAMDA’s ongoing role as a pioneer in its field. 

DRAMA SCHOOL

Today we offer exceptional vocational training for actors, stage managers, technicians, directors, and designers. We train a core cohort of approximately 220 UK and international students a year across five validated degree courses and LAMDA’s own range of diploma courses. Over Easter and the summer we welcome approximately 360 students onto our short courses.

Our training is delivered by a faculty of experienced tutors and a large number of visiting specialists and professionals. Together they enable our students to acquire the skills and develop the creativity necessary to excel in highly competitive professions.
We contribute to the development of the dramatic art form by commissioning new writing projects each year. Three of the plays created at LAMDA have since been produced by professional theatre companies – Di Trevis’s Remembrance of Things Past (National Theatre), Mark Ravenhill’s Mother Clap’s Molly House (National Theatre) and Robin Soans’ Mixed Up North (Out of Joint Theatre Company & Octagon Theatre Bolton). Recent collaborators include Ché Walker, Bola Agbaje, Doug Lucie and Ella Hickson.
Our students also work with professional screenwriters, directors and editors, shooting original films on location. In 2014-15, we commissioned and produced ten new films by Tracy Brabin, Shaun Prendergast, Stephanie Street and Phil Davies, among others.

EXAMINATIONS

LAMDA has been offering practical examinations in communication and performance subjects for over 130 years. Today, we offer a performance and communications-based syllabus leading to accredited and non-accredited awards in the UK and worldwide. Almost 98,000 candidates took our examinations in over 30 countries last year, making LAMDA the largest statutory speech and drama awarding body in the UK.
Our examinations are about achievement and empowerment. Anyone can take a LAMDA exam, regardless of age, ability, ambition or experience. Our ultimate aim is to provide every individual with the opportunity to develop the life skills they need to be a success, wherever their future takes them. 

Our Courses
We have long courses and short courses.
Acting
Stage management and Technical theatre 
Directing
Foundation diploma.

Course Content

Year One

Students undertake technical classes in acting, improvisation, voice, movement, singing, textual analysis and interpretation, Alexander Technique, physical theatre, stage combat and dance. They are also introduced to screen acting. Technical classes represent 80% of the course content; the rest is dedicated to scene study work on comedy, Jacobean, Greek and contemporary drama. Students present four workshop performances, which are closed to the public to encourage exploration and experimentation.
Year Two

Classwork represents 60% of the course content and includes intensive audio and screen acting modules. In addition, students rehearse and present workshop performances of Shakespeare, Restoration drama, 19th century Russian naturalism and musical theatre. These performances are closed to the public. Second year projects include our Make Your Own Film module and the LAMDA Long Project – in which students collaborate with a professional writer and director to produce the first draft of a new play. This may become a public LAMDA production in their final year. Robin Soans’ Mixed Up North – originally developed as a LAMDA Long Project – went on to tour the UK as an Out of Joint and Octagon Theatre Bolton production.
 Year Three

Students perform public productions in LAMDA’s state-of-the-art theatres – some of these productions tour to venues across the UK and abroad. Students complete the final phase of their screen acting, voice-over and microphone training. They create a professionally directed and edited short film, record a radio play, complete a professional voice reel and continue to develop their on-camera audition technique. Technical classes support our students throughout their final year.

Professional Preparation

Agents and casting directors are invited to attend all public productions and film screenings. In addition, graduating students present an industry showcase in a West End theatre each year. Those eligible to work in the USA are also able to participate in LAMDA’s showcases in New York and Los Angeles in the autumn following graduation. All students who graduate from LAMDA’s BA (Hons) Professional Acting leave with a professionally-shot show reel and a voice reel. Students attend lectures, masterclasses and open auditions with visiting industry professionals. Career guidance is provided by LAMDA’s careers team and an independent industry consultant, Sarah Trevis.

For Enquiries:
+44 (0)20 8834 0500
 +44 (0)20 8834 0501
 enquiries@lamda.org.uk
Admissions: admissions@lamda.org.uk
  www.lamda.org.uk