2015 Graduation Ceremony
Congratulations to the Central Class of 2015
On Monday 7 December, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama hosted its annual Graduation Ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall. Alongside a class of highly promising new graduates, Central awarded Honorary Fellowship to three extraordinary members of the industry: David Jubb, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Barbara Windsor.
Central alumnus and acclaimed theatre producer David Jubb has been the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Battersea Arts Centre since 2004 – sharing the Joint Artistic Directorship with David Micklem from 2008-2012. Prior to joining the Battersea Arts Centre, he was Director of his own company, Your Imagination, which was dedicated to producing independent artists including Ridiculusmus, Kazuko Hohki and Toby Jones amongst others. He began working at BAC in 1999 where, until 2001, he worked as Development Producer alongside then Artistic Director Tom Morris to develop Scratch and BAC’s Ladder of Development. He served as the Chair of the Kneehigh Theatre from 2008 – 2013, was the Chair of the London Theatre Consortium from 2012 – 2015 and is an active member of the What Next? movement.
“The year I spent at Central School proved to be very influential in terms of my work. It gave me time to reflect on my own practice and helped me find my passion in life: producing. It’s an honour to take part in this ceremony and think back on how valuable my time at Central proved to be.” - David Jubb
Multi-Award winning playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s work has been performed all over the world. She was the first living female playwright to have an original play – the celebrated Her Naked Skin which explored the suffragette movement – performed on the National Theatre’s Olivier stage. Other plays include SOHO – A Tale of Table Dancers, The Night Season and Shoreditch Madonna. Rebecca also writes for film and television. She co-wrote the screenplay for Ida with director Pawel Pawlikowski which won numerous awards including the 2015 Academy Award, BAFTA and SPIRIT awards for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as the Best Film awards at both the London Film Festival and the Warsaw Film Festival. She is an alumna of Central’s BA Acting course, having graduated in 1999.
Barbara Windsor began her career on stage in 1950 at the age of 13 and made her film debut in The Belles of St Trinian’s in 1954. After training at Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, she received a BAFTA Award nomination for her role in Ms Littlewood’s 1963 film Sparrers Can’t Sing. On Stage, she’s appeared both on Broadway – where she received a Tony Award nomination for the 1964 Broadway production of Oh, What a Lovely War! – and in the West End, and also toured extensively across in the UK, New Zealand, and South Africa with her own show, Carry On Barbara!. Between 1964 and 1974, she won the hearts of British audiences when she appeared in nine Carry On films. She is also known for her long standing role as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, for which she won the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress. She was appointed an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours, was awarded Freedom of the City of London in 2010 and is a patron of the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
“This is a truly unexpected and wonderful honour. Not only have I been fortunate enough to be part of this incredible profession that I have loved all my life, to then be recognised by one of the best Drama Schools in the country is absolutely Cherry on the Cake Time!!!” - Barbara Windsor
The Honorands join with Central in congratulating the newly graduated Class of 2015 and in wishing them every success in their future careers. Wherever their future takes them after graduation, they will always remain an important part of the Central network, and Central is committed to ensuring that graduate’s links with the School do not end at graduation, but are carried throughout their lives. For more information on the support and benefits available to Central alumni, please visit the Alumni Association page
