Board at Tom Hardy’s drama school quits over ‘cost cutting’

CENTRAL Saint Martins’ drama advisory board has resigned en masse over a cost-cutting row after a course taken by Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender and Emilia Clarke was suspended.

The university’s Drama Centre Advisory Council, which includes Helen Mccrory, the actress, and Adrian Noble, the former chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company, announced their resignation yesterday as they warned that the course’s conservatoire status was in danger.

The 11-member council said in a statement that it had lost confidence in Central Saint Martins’ commitment to the “values and craft” of the Drama Centre, adding that changes to the course threaten to “significantly weaken” it.

Central Saint Martins, which is part of the University of the Arts London (UAL), announced last week that it has suspended its BA Acting course for two years while it conducts a review of the teaching.

Chris Honer, a theatre director and chairman of the council, said he feared the course may change so radically that it would no longer be eligible for conservatoire status, which shows it is focused on vocational training.

“To have conservatoire status you need to have a lot of tuition time,” he said. “The university is thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is so expensive do they really need so much tuition?’ If you are going to train actors to the highest level, then yes, you do.”

A spokesman for UAL said they regretted the council’s resignation, adding that the review is about the “culture and practice of these courses”.

They said: “We are engaged with external experts and distinguished alumni in framing the course ethos and conservatoire model within the contemporary context.”