Webber Douglas Academy Of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a professional performance career. During its 100-year history, the Academy produced many established actors of stage and screen, including Angela Lansbury, Penelope Keith, Julian Fellowes, Anthony Sher, Donald Sinden, Steven Berkoff, Hugh Bonneville, Helena Carroll, Minnie Driver, Amanda Root, Sue Johnston, Samantha Spiro, Andrew Scarborough, Julia Ormond, Tina Hobley and Terence Stamp.
The school was founded in London in 1926 as the Webber Douglas School of Singing, by Walter Johnstone Douglas and Amherst Webber. It was created from the singing academy founded in 1906 in Paris by Jean de Reszke. By 1932 the school had added full theatrical training to its curriculum, and it was renamed the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art. It was located at 30 Clareville St in South Kensington.
In 2006, the academy was absorbed into the Central School of Speech and Drama. Many of the academy's past alumni have formed a theatre company dedicated to keeping the original spirit of the school alive.
In 2009 the Central School of Speech and Drama renamed its Embassy Studio the Webber Douglas Studio.
Read more about Webber Douglas Academy Of Dramatic Art: Alumni
Famous quotes containing the words dramatic art, douglas, academy, dramatic and/or art:
“The dramatic art would appear to be rather a feminine art; it contains in itself all the artifices which belong to the province of woman: the desire to please, facility to express emotions and hide defects, and the faculty of assimilation which is the real essence of woman.”
—Sarah Bernhardt (18451923)
“I want to die while you love me,
And never, never see
The glory of this perfect day
Grow dim, or cease to be!”
—Georgia Douglas Johnson (18861966)
“When the State wishes to endow an academy or university, it grants it a tract of forest land: one saw represents an academy, a gang, a university.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“The flattering, if arbitrary, label, First Lady of the Theatre, takes its toll. The demands are great, not only in energy but eventually in dramatic focus. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a star to occupy an inch of space without bursting seams, cramping everyone elses style and unbalancing a play. No matter how self-effacing a famous player may be, he makes an entrance as a casual neighbor and the audience interest shifts to the house next door.”
—Helen Hayes (19001993)
“He is a man of one idea: that life has a symbolic significance. Which is to say that life and art are one.”
—Henry Miller (18911980)