Monday, December 7, 2020

London Theatre Studio

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The '''London Theatre Studio''' was a [[drama school]] in [[London]] operated by the French actor and director [[Michel Saint-Denis]] between 1936 and 1939.

==The school==
In 1929, with the support of [[Jacques Copeau]], Saint-Denis and other members of the ''Copiaus'' moved to [[Paris]] and established the ''Compagnie des Quinze'', a company of actors, in which he put into effect the teaching methods of Copeau. This folded up in 1934, and in 1935 Saint-Denis moved to London, where the next year he founded the London Theatre Studio, with [[George Devine]], [[Marius Goring]], and [[Glen Byam Shaw]]. This followed the methods of Copeau, together with some of his own.<ref name=BL>British Library: ''[https://ift.tt/3lV0EwK The Michel Saint-Denis Archive]'', British Library</ref><ref name=MDDT>"Saint-Denis, Michel Jacques (1897–1971)" in Jonathan Law, ''The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre'', pp. 936, 937</ref>

At the same time, while in England Saint-Denis worked as a theatre director, including leading productions of the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]]. [[Alec Guinness]], [[Peter Ustinov]], [[Michael Redgrave]], [[John Gielgud]] and [[Laurence Olivier]] were among those he directed.<ref name=BL/>

The London Theatre Studio was closed in 1939, as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War.<ref name=MDDT/>

==Aftermath==
Saint-Denis returned to England after the war and established the Old Vic Theatre School (1946–1948) with George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw. He also went on to establish further drama schools in [[Strasbourg]] and [[Montreal]].<ref name=MDDT/>

[[Margaret Harris]], who taught at the London Theatre Studio, was later a director of the [[Motley Theatre Design Course]], a historian of which later observed that her aims "...hearkened back to the London Theatre Studio ideal of a ‘company’ who work in happy collaboration, rather than a group of individuals in creative competition with each other".<ref>Michael Mullin, ''Design by Motley'', Chapter 14: The Motley Legacy (1966-) (Associated University Presses, 1996 ), p. 207</ref>

==Notable staff==
*[[Margaret Harris]] (1904–2000)<ref name=CC/>
*[[Richard Southern (theatre designer)|Richard Southern]] (1903–1989)

==Notable students==
*[[James Donald]] (1917–1993)
*[[Jocelyn Herbert]] (1917–2003)<ref name=CC>Cathy Courtney, ''Jocelyn Herbert, A Theatre Workbook'' (Art Books International, 1993 ), p. 211</ref>
*[[John Crockett (director)|John Crockett]] (1918–1986)<ref>Peter Billingham, ''Theatre of Conscience 1939-53: A Study of Four Touring British Community Theatres'' (Routledge Harwood Contemporary Theatre Studies, 2001), p. 89</ref>
*[[Angelica Garnett]] (1918–2012)<ref>[[Frances Spalding]], 20th Century Painters and Sculptors (Antique Collectors' Club, 1990, ), p. 123</ref>
*[[Noel Willman]] (1918–1988)
*[[Sonia Rolt]] (1919–2014)
*[[Maria Britneva]] (1921–1994)<ref>[[John Lahr]], [https://ift.tt/1ssBN5m "The Lady and Tennessee"], ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 19 December 1994, accessed 8 December 2020</ref>
*[[Maureen Pryor]] (1922–1977)

==Notes==

[[Category:Drama schools in London]]


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