| Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts | |
| Type: | Drama school |
| Established: | 1945 |
| Chairman: | Dame Rosemary Squire |
| Principal: | Sally Ann Gritton |
| Affiliations: | |
| Address: | 120 Peckham Hill Street |
| City: | London |
| Country: | UK |
| Postcode: | SE15 5JT |
| Coordinates: | 51.4748°N -0.0696°W |
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, formerly Mountview Theatre School, is a drama school in Peckham, south London, England, founded in 1945.[1] The Academy provides specialist vocational training in acting, musical theatre and actor musicianship as well as production arts and theatre creative practices. The President of the school is Dame Judi Dench, and the Principal is Sally Ann Gritton.
Mountview was founded in Crouch End, north London, in 1945 by Peter Coxhead and Ralph Nossek as "The Mountview Theatre Club", an amateur repertory company staging a new production for a six-day run every second week. Among the club's productions were Coxhead's staging of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra, a production of the complete Arnold Wesker Trilogy – Chicken Soup with Barley, Roots and I'm Talking about Jerusalem directed by Peter Scott-Smith – and Buttered Both Sides, a revue written and composed by Mountview member Ted Dicks and directed by Gale Webb, which later transferred to the Fortune Theatre in London's West End.
Early in 1946, when 21 years old, Coxhead borrowed £2,300 to buy the lease of Cecile House, a large derelict property at Crouch End. Development at Cecile House included the conversion of a gymnasium into what became the Mountview Theatre.[2]
The Mountview Theatre officially opened in November 1947 with a production of The Importance of Being Earnest. The theatre presented one play each month until 1949, after-which Coxhead bought the building outright from the leaseholders. For the next 25 years the theatre staged a new production every two to three weeks. Ralph Nossek went on to pursue a professional acting career in 1955 that lasted 56 years.
Acting courses and technical theatre skills training were introduced part-time from 1958 when Mountview Theatre School was formally recognised in name. Its first president was George Norman, with Coxhead as its principal. This remained the case for the next ten years.
In 1969 the school began full-time drama courses. In 1971 a second performance space was built and opened as the Judi Dench Theatre. There were also 10 working studios for acting students, three for technical students and a wardrobe with more than 15,000 costumes. By 1985 the school had leased additional premises at Wood Green, that were named the Sir Ralph Richardson Memorial Studios.
Coxhead retired as principal in 1996; he was replaced by Paul Clements, former director of drama at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Peter Coxhead became chairman and chief executive of the school board until 2000 when Mountview Theatre School changed its name to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, In 2001 Coxhead was awarded an MBE for Services to the Arts. He died in 2004 after 59 years involvement with the school.
Paul Clements remained as principal until 2008 when he was replaced by Sue Robertson, previously dean of the School of Arts at City University London, subsequently replaced by Stephen Jameson in 2014. He was previously associate director at LAMDA.[3] [4]
In 2007 the British reality television show E4 School of Performing Arts offered several would-be actors the chance to win scholarships to Mountview, Italia Conti and the Academy of Contemporary Music. Mountview's Director of Acting Programme, Amir M. Korangy, appeared on the show as part of the panel.
In 2011 Mountview Principal Robertson announced plans to relocate to part of Hornsey Town Hall in Crouch End, a stone's throw from Crouch Hill where it was founded, opening there for the 2014–15 academic year. A Multi-use regeneration was planned for the Grade II-listed Town Hall and the site to its rear, a £19 million project. Haringey Council's cabinet approved the plan on 26 April 2011 on the basis of a business case that included Mountview. The plan fell through when Mountview withdrew and in 2016 Mountview received planning permission for a new site in Peckham, south-east London.[5] The new building opened in September 2018.
Foundation
Undergraduate
Postgraduate