Royal Central School of Speech & Drama

Central stands at the forefront of training and research in the Dramatic Arts. Graduate employment statistics are amongst the highest in our sector, and our research has recently been assessed as ‘World Leading’ – and is unique in the realm of drama conservatoires. The ratio of undergraduate applications to places is the highest of any UK university. Whilst our actors win many of the most coveted awards, worldwide, and frequent accolades in the media, a broad range of industry organisations rank Central as the gold standard in leadership of technical and design work. So too, Central continues as a pioneering force in the application of dramatic skills in many social contexts.

We hope that you will wish to explore the range of courses, both undergraduate and postgraduate, set out on this website. Do visit for an open day, or come to our regular public productions – focused around the historic Embassy Theatre. Our facilities are widely regarded to be exemplary with further specialised studios and performance spaces to be added as part of a dynamic new development.

Elsie Fogerty founded The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art at the Royal Albert Hall in 1906. Fogerty was a specialist in speech training. She also had a firm belief in the social importance of education. The students of her school quickly became famous for their delivery in verse-speaking competitions, their appearance in theatres, and their work with children in the deprived areas of London. While Central developed a name for actor training, its founder was at the same time committed to advancing the study of theatre as an academic discipline.

Long before the founding of the first university drama department in the UK, Fogerty argued that theatre should be studied at university and that theatre training should be awarded degrees. In 1937 Fogerty was offered space on the site at that time earmarked for the National Theatre building, with the college alongside the theatre. But that scheme, like many of the National Theatre schemes, fell through. In 1957 the School at last moved from the Albert Hall, having acquired the lease of the Embassy Theatre at Swiss Cottage and its associated buildings.

The Embassy had a reputation, from the 1930s, for experimental and politically left-wing theatre. By 1957 this reputation had faded. When Central arrived it was both rescuing an old theatre and weaving it into the fabric of new college buildings. At least that was the plan: inevitably funds had to be raised. On this occasion the champion was Sir John Davis. His work in pursuing endowments established the resources to build a new building. This was opened in 1961 by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, who was then Central’s Patron.