East 15 Acting School - Case Study

East 15 is the most international drama academy in the United Kingdom. The acting school has been providing training for those wishing to work in theatre, film, radio and related fields at their two campuses in East London and Southend-on-Sea for nearly 50 years. Last November, they joined a trade mission to China organised by Essex County Council, looking for partners for a number of theatre projects. During their week in Shanghai and the Jiangsu Province, the Council assisted East 15 brokering several meetings with decision makers from the British Council and theatre and art institutes.

As a direct outcome of those meetings, East 15 have now been invited to perform a theatre production of Romeo and Juliet directed by Leon Rubin at the Shanghai Expo for a period of 3 weeks. The Expo is a major international affair, taking place in a 5 square kilometre area at the core of the city and expecting around 70 million visitors. The acting school will be taking out their trained actors for this high-profile event and will work in partnership with the Shanghai Theatre Institute to coordinate their stage management during the production. Thanks to this partnership, East 15 is expecting a director from the Institute to visit Essex next year and direct another international show. Together, they will be aiming to set up the first international master course between China and Britain in this discipline.