About us

East 15 Acting School was founded in 1961 by Margaret Bury.

Our history

East 15's foundations lie in the work of Joan Littlewood's legendary Theatre Workshop, which broke new ground by reinterpreting classics for a modern age, as well as commissioning fresh plays from socially conscious writers.

Theatre Workshop succeeded in creating an outstanding ensemble who combined improvisational brilliance with technique, method, research, textual analysis and the intense expression of truthful emotion. The company made their home at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, East London, and the theatre's postcode gave the school its name.

Theatre Workshop transformed the face of British theatre with a revolutionary approach to stagecraft, especially the use of Stanislavski's methodologies. Margaret Bury established the School to carry forward these principles and create a centre of training as diverse and innovative as the company itself. Theatre Workshop's head of movement, Jean Newlove, also made a substantial contribution to East 15's early development.

For over sixty years, the School has been offering radical training that has produced renowned actors, directors, producers and technicians across theatre, film, TV and radio. While much of our original approach was based on the theories of Stanislavski, over the years we have embraced diverse practitioners such as Michael Chekhov, Rudolf Laban, Jerzy Grotowski, Jacques Lecoq, Peter Brook, Sanford Meisner, and other contemporary practitioners.

While we consistently innovate with changing times, Theatre Workshop's guiding principles continue to inform our teaching and productions today.

Merging with the University of Essex

In 2000, East 15 merged with the University of Essex, a leading research-intensive university.

As an institution known for its tradition of encouraging students to think differently and challenge convention, the University of Essex was the ideal partner for East 15. At its inception, Essex's founding Vice-Chancellor, Sir Albert Sloman, emphasised that "radical innovation" would be at the heart of their approach to research and education.

This merger opened an exciting chapter in the history of both institutions. This ushered in new opportunities for students, including the development of fresh and exciting programmes with state-of-the-art facilities.

Since 2007, we have invested over £14 million on new buildings and facilities across our campuses. This includes repurposing a Victorian gothic church to establish Clifftown Theatre, now home to a professional theatre, performance studios, and workshops. More recently, we set up a Motion Capture Volume that is served by 30 VICON sensors.

East 15 today

Today, we offer an extraordinary, dynamic and unique portfolio of Undergraduate, Masters and PhD courses that span many areas of training for actors, directors, producers, technical theatre specialists, and students of theatre practice. We are one of a leading group of UK conservatoires, and are now one of the largest specialist drama schools in the UK, with a distinguished international teaching staff and an undergraduate and extensive postgraduate population of over 800 students.

In addition to the carefully selected UK students, we also teach and train students from over 26 countries worldwide. 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.