Congratulations to Central’s Classes of 2020 and 2021 on their Graduation
Congratulations to the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021, who both graduated from Central on Monday 6 December in ceremonies held at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
For the first time in Central’s history, the two graduation ceremonies were held on the same day, providing an opportunity for the Class of 2020 to celebrate together following the postponement of last year’s in-person event. A celebration for the Class of 2021 followed, with both ceremonies live streamed - another first for the School - and British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted.
Central’s Principal Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE presided over both ceremonies for the first time since her appointment and opened proceedings by addressing the graduands.
“Today is your moment to be congratulated and celebrated; to acknowledge your hard work, your creativity and your imagination; and to know that each one of you will make a difference – of that I am sure.” - Principal Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE
Josette Bushell-Mingo was joined virtually by Central’s President Michael Grandage CBE, who also addressed the graduands, and on stage by Central’s Chair of Governors John Willis, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of London Professor Wendy Thomson CBE, who conferred the Degrees.
Performances from Central’s BA (Hons) Acting Musical Theatre Class of 2022, with Musical Direction from Course Leader Wendy Gadian, also featured on the day.
During the past nearly two years, Central’s community has come together to support each other amidst the global pandemic and to continue to learn, create and produce exceptional art. From contributing to the national effort to combat COVID-19, to work within their local communities and with partners from the wider industry, Central’s students and graduates have consistently shown their passion, creativity, commitment, and dedication - even under such difficult circumstances.
Central is delighted to celebrate these and many more accomplishments of the Classes of 2020 and 2021 and looks forward to the amazing things that these talented graduates will go on to achieve.
CLASS OF 2020 - CEREMONY
At the morning ceremony, celebrating the achievements of the Class of 2020, Central was pleased to award 488 Central graduates with:
12 Certificates
2 Diplomas
197 Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degrees
4 Postgraduate Certificates
2 Postgraduate Diplomas
213 Master of Arts Degrees
53 Master of Fine Arts Degrees
5 Doctors of Philosophy
Central was also pleased to award Honorary Fellowships to Raidene Carter and Lizzie Clachan, as well as to recognise Professor Ross Brown as a Professor Emeritus of the School.
“I’m honoured and humbled to be receiving this fellowship from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, especially now, when we have an unprecedented reason to step up and help reshape a stronger, more open and equal theatre industry. When I first graduated from Central, almost 20 years ago to the day, the practices we now take for granted as being tools for change – including creative producing, applied theatre, and workshop facilitation – were just beginning to take hold as serious professions, so I’m particularly pleased that recognition of my work is a celebration of the discrete but widespread graft, grit and generosity that, despite our challenges, still characterises everything I love about our sector.” - Raidene Carter, Honorary Fellow
“I was fortunate to work at Central for twenty-six years during a transformational period in its long history, when it broadened the scope of its traditional theatre training to embrace design and new specialist technical disciplines, and became the first UK drama conservatoire fully to engage with research in its fields. I am delighted to continue to be affiliated with Central as an Emeritus Professor in my retirement.” - Professor Ross Brown, Professor Emeritus
CLASS OF 2021 - CEREMONY
At the afternoon ceremony, celebrating the achievements of the Class of 2021, Central was pleased to award 483 Central graduates with:
9 Certificates
3 Diplomas
217 Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degrees
1 Postgraduate Diploma
161 Master of Arts Degrees
45 Master of Fine Arts Degrees
2 Doctors of Philosophy
Central was also pleased to award an Honorary Fellowship to Hugh Bonneville and an Honorary Degree to Professor Anne Bogart, as well as to recognise Professor Robin Nelson as a Professor Emeritus of the School.
“I am extremely grateful to Central School of Speech and Drama for conferring this honour on me. It has long been one of the finest drama schools in the country and I feel privileged to be associated with its great tradition and exciting future.”- Hugh Bonneville, Honorary Fellow
”I am delighted to be with you in person, right here and right now, receiving an honorary doctorate from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. To be the recipient of this acknowledgement of my work, is profoundly meaningful to me. Over the past several years, I have had the great pleasure of meeting and working with many of the students, administrative staff, and faculty at Central and I have been consistently impressed with the quality of generosity and shared attention that happens within the school.” - Anne Bogart, Honorary Degree recipient
“Proud to see Royal Central recognised, as it now is, for its top researchers as well as for world-leading creative practitioners.” - Robin Nelson, Professor Emeritus
The Honorands join Central in congratulating the newly graduated Classes of 2020 and 2021 and in wishing them 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 over 100 years, many of the most preeminent theatre practitioners and performers in the world have been Central alumni. We see our relationship with those we trained as lifelong, and all graduates of Central are part of this legacy and are encouraged to stay engaged with the school and tap into its thriving alumni community.
Find out more about our alumni networks, events, benefits and dedicated programmes of support by visiting our Alumni pages or contact our Alumni Office.
ABOUT THE HONORANDS
Raidene Carter (Honorary Fellow): Raidene Carter is a Cardiff born producer with 20 years’ experience in developing new theatre and performance from participation, community and collaboration projects. She has had particular success in developing relationships with diversity-led artists, community groups and young people to develop high quality theatre and events.
Graduating from Central in 2001, Raidene went on to work at a number of notable venues and theatre companies: Talawa Theatre Company (2002-2006) as Education Associate, the Albany, Deptford (2006-2008) as Associate Producer (Youth & Community), Birmingham Repertory Theatre (2008- 2012) as Producer, returning to the Albany as Head of Creative Programmes in 2012, where she led an expansive arts and community programme. In 2017 Raidene briefly took up the position of Director of Programmes at WAC Arts before deciding to join the leading young people’s company, Theatre Centre, as Executive Director.
She has engaged in arts governance, academia and sector leadership for many years and is a proud board member of the Mem Morrison Company, and a trustee for the Paper Birds Theatre Company (2017), and National Theatre Wales (2019-). In 2016, she became one of three inaugural London Theatre Consortium and MOBO Executive Fellows, recognising Black and Asian leadership in the sector. She is currently Executive Producer (Cultural Programme and Live Sites) for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Lizzie Clachan (Honorary Fellow): Lizzie Clachan is one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative theatre designers. She has designed many productions both here and internationally. Graduating from Central’s MA Advanced Theatre Practice course in 1998, Lizzie co-founded Shunt, co-creating and designing all their shows including The Architects, Money, Tropicana, Amato Saltone, Ether Frolics, and Dance Bear Dance.
Her designs include for White Noise, A Number At The Bridge, Blindness (Donmar Warehouse, also New York, Toronto, Washington DC, Mexico City, Amsterdam and UK tour), The Invisible Hand, The Son At The Kiln (West End), The Life Of Galileo, Macbeth, A Season In The Congo (Young Vic), Rutherford And Son, Absolute Hell, As You Like It, The Beaux’ Stratagem (National Theatre), Cyprus Avenue (Dublin, Belfast and New York), Fireworks, Adler & Gibb, Gastronauts, The Witness, Our Private Life, Jumpy (Royal Court), The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (Donmar), Tipping The Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith), The Skriker (Royal Exchange), and Carmen Disruption (Almeida).
Her opera credits include The Mask Of Orpheus (English National Opera), Seven Deadly Sins/Mahogany Songspiel (Royal Opera House), Nixon In China (Staatsoper Hanover), Jenufa (Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam), La Traviata (Theater Basel/ ENO), Pelléas et Mélisande (Teatr Wielki, Poland/Festival d’Aix en Provence), Le Vin Herbé (Staatsoper Berlin), and Bliss (Staatsoper Hamburg).
Hugh Bonneville (Honorary Fellow): Hugh Bonneville is a graduate of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, which merged with Central in 2005. His film credits include Notting Hill, Iris, The Monuments Men, Viceroy’s House, the two Paddington movies and Downton Abbey. A second Downton Abbey film is scheduled for release in March 2022. Hugh has recently completed I Came By, a contemporary thriller by director Babak Anvari, for Netflix.
His television roles include Ian Fletcher in the BAFTA-winning Twenty Twelve and W1A (BBC), and Robert Crawley in ITV’s global hit Downton Abbey, for which he received nominations for a Golden Globe, two Emmys and along with his fellow cast members won three SAG Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Hugh’s stage career spans more than three decades and includes seasons with the National Theatre and the RSC. His most recent appearances were in Enemy Of The People and Shadowlands, both at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Hugh is Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex and is a patron of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, The National Youth Arts Trust, Scene & Heard, The Primary Shakespeare Company and the South Downs National Park Trust
Professor Anne Bogart (Honorary Degree): Anne Bogart is a theatre and opera director and Co-Artistic Director of the SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a professor at Columbia University where she has led the MFA Directing Program in the School of the Arts since 1993, having also taught at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, University of California in San Diego, and the School for Movement Research.
As a theatre director, Anne has staged classical, modern, contemporary and devised plays and has also directed operas and musicals. Her productions with SITI include Falling And Loving, The Bacchae, Chess Match No. 5, Lost In The Stars, and Antigone. Her recent opera credits include Wagner’s Tristan And Isolde (Croatian National Theater), Dvorak’s Dmitrij (The Fisher Center for the Arts), and Bellini’s Norma (Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera).
Anne’s awards and fellowships include three honorary doctorates (Cornish School of the Arts, Bard College and Skidmore College), A Duke Artist Fellowship, A Rockefeller Fellow USA Arts Foundation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Rockefeller/Bellagio Fellowship.
She is the author of six books ‘A Director Prepares’, ‘The Viewpoints Book’, ‘And Then, You Act’, ‘Conversations with Anne’, ‘What’s the Story’, and recently ‘The Art of Resonance’.
Professor Ross Brown (Professor Emeritus): Ross Brown joined Central in 1994, following a successful professional career in theatre, to design a degree level curriculum for sound design. He went on, through publishing books and articles, leading AHRC-funded projects and convening academic conferences and knowledge exchanges with industry, to become recognised as the leading international authority on the dramaturgy of sound and theatre aurality.
He began teaching at Central as a junior lecturer on the original MA Advanced Theatre Practice and BA Theatre Practice courses, was awarded the title of Reader in Sound in 2008 and then Professor of Sound in 2010. He was one of the first to reframe professional artistic practice as research and his work formed part of Central’s first submission to the Research Assessment Exercise (1996). This gained some funding for Central that helped to lay the foundation for a dedicated research department.
From 2002, Ross became part of Central’s leadership team, first as Head of Undergraduate Studies, then as Dean of School, and briefly as Interim Co-Principal. During this time, he helped design and build the West and North Blocks, win degree-awarding powers, gain entry to the University of London, achieve national Centre of Excellence and TEF Gold status, and double Central’s funding from the government as a world-leading specialist institution. Ross served as elected Academic Board Governor / Director for over ten years and chaired the School’s Examination Board for eighteen – the body responsible for awarding the degrees conferred here today. Having chaired the School’s Emergency Management Team during the first two waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, he retired from Central in December 2020.
Professor Robin Nelson (Professor Emeritus): Formerly Director of Research and Professor of Theatre and Intermedial Performance (2010 - 2015) at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Robin remains (in semi-retirement) a Professorial Fellow.
He is also an Emeritus Professor of Manchester Metropolitan University where he worked for many years.
Twice an RAE/REF sub-panel member, he has himself published widely on the performing arts and media. His books include ‘Practice as Research in the Arts (and Beyond): Principles, Processes, Contexts, Achievements’ (forthcoming, 2020), the second edition of ‘Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances’ (2013), ‘Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen’ (2011), and ‘Mapping Intermediality in Performance’ (co-edited with S.Bay-Cheng et al.) (2010).
