We are ranked No.1 for drama in the UK!
Guardian University Guide 2022: Drama and Dance (as part of University of Essex)
“East 15’s extraordinary legacy and its reputation for rigorous and inspired teaching ensures students consistently display an unusual degree of courage, vision and versatility that is very exciting to watch.”
Colin Firth, CBE
For over 60 years, East 15 has produced actors, directors, producers, theatre practitioners and technicians for the international stage, TV, film and radio.
The school was founded by Margaret Bury and grew from the work of Joan Littlewood’s famed Theatre Workshop, which broke new ground re-interpreting the classics for a modern age, commissioning new plays from socially committed writers, and creating an ensemble capable of inventing new work that combined improvisational brilliance with method, technique, research, text analysis and the intense expression of truthful emotion.
Much of the original approach was based upon the theories of Stanislavski and over the years training methods at East 15 have now embraced approaches from diverse practitioners, such as Michael Chekhov, Rudolf Laban, Jerzy Grotowski, Jacques Lecoq, Peter Brook, Sanford Meisner and other important contemporary trainers.
Below is just a handful of our notable alumni:
Bottom Left to Right: Kiell Smith-Bynoe ‘Ghosts’; Maisie Adam ‘Buzzed’; Daniel Ezra ‘All American’; Alison Steadman – Olivier Award Winner; Corinna Brown ‘Heartstopper‘; Clint Dyer – Deputy Artistic Director, National Theatre
In 2000, East 15 merged with the University of Essex, a leading UK research-intensive university, opening an exciting new chapter in the history of both institutions and offering more opportunities to students, including our specialist courses.
Since 2007, more than £13 million has been spent on new buildings and facilities for East 15 in both Loughton and Southend, including Southend’s Clifftown Theatre and Studios, once a Victorian gothic church which now enjoys a new lease of life, converted into studios, workshops and a state-of-the art theatre.
Our training is by professionals and for professionals, allowing our graduates to work successfully across the globe. Our outstanding international teaching faculty is made up of professionals from all areas of live and recorded performance.