News

News, Updates and Announcements from Central

Lighting being installed in an empty theatre

News, updates and announcements from Central

Central is delighted to welcome its new Principal, Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE, who takes up her post from Monday 16 August, 2021. 

Portrait of Josette Bushell-Mingo

Congratulations to Central’s Dyslexia Support Team who have been awarded the Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education’s (aDShe) Institutional Award! The aDShe Institutional Award recognises the work of a department or team working in further/ higher education and their contribution to the promotion, support, diagnosis or recognition of dyslexia and the support of dyslexic students. 

ADSHE logo

The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a grant of £526,133 from the Leverhulme Trust to establish a range of student scholarships and to further support its internationally recognised work in Applied Theatre. 

MA Applied Theatre Student performance

On Wednesday 21 July, Central’s Research department will host A Roundtable on Sports Plays to coincide with the online premieres of Central’s undergraduate productions of Andrew Hinderaker’s Colossal, directed by Robert Styles and Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves directed by Debbie Seymour, both streaming online from the 14 - 28 July. 

Football players on a backlit pitch

Congratulations to members of the Central community whose outstanding work has been recognised at the 2021 Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Awards.

ATHE Awards 2021 - Logo

Central is pleased to announce that its Board of Governors has approved a new Strategic Plan for the School, setting an ambitious and exciting direction of travel through 2023. 

Panoramic of Central

On Thursday 24 June, Central was pleased to support Kali Theatre's 30th anniversary celebration, On the Shoulders of Kali, an online event marking 30 years of Kali Theatre.  The event also marked the launch of Kali's new book THIRTY and the Kali Script Shop.

On the shoulders of Kali - Symposium promotional image

Central’s Dr Naomi Paxton has partnered with feminist production hub Scary Little Girls on their fourth season of Salon de la Vie - ‘Nobody Expects the Suffragettes!' - five online events based on her research into suffrage theatre and entertainments.

"Nobody Expects the Suffragettes"

On 24 June Central’s Dr Nicola Abraham (Senior Lecturer, Applied Theatre Practices) and Dr Javeria Shah (Academic/ Schoolwide Inclusion Specialist and founder of the Social Performance Network) presented at The Culture Capital Campaign’s event ‘Approaching Creative Leadership Now’ 

The Culture Capital Exchange's Creative Leadership Now event

Throughout the Summer term the student, staff and alumni teams that collaborate to deliver Central’s Outreach programme to young people across the country have continued to deliver their work digitally in response to the ongoing restrictions brought about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Maame Atuah, Student Recruitment and Access Administrator and Central alumna (left), runs a stage management workshop for young people with the founder of Backstage Niche, Sylvia Darkwa-Ohemeng (right).

In May, Central hosted Intersections, its annual postgraduate research conference.  The student-led Intersections 2021: Border-Crossings event was organised by Central PhD candidates Nadine Deller and Paul Edwards. 

Black and white photograph of lines of light running diagonally left to right across floor with horizontal white stripe

From 21 – 28 June Central is once again partnering with the NHS to present the week-long Student Knowledge Exchange Project Festival, celebrating student and staff learning, insights and achievements from the Student Knowledge Exchange project between Central and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. 

Student Knowledge Exchange Festival June 2021