Death of 'Craft': U.K. Actors vs. Streaming Age

A shock resignation of a legendary acting teacher leads to a crisis in how to train young performers for Hollywood and beyond

Patsy Rodenburg knows how to make a dramatic exit stage left. Last fall, Rodenburg, one of Britain’s foremost acting teachers, resigned from London’s storied Guildhall School of Music and Drama, her professional home of 42 years. A former teacher to Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Daniel Day-Lewis, Rodenburg was also a peer of playwrights including Harold Pinter and Arthur Miller. As she was leaving, the teacher emailed a pointed valediction to her students that quickly went viral.

“It has gradually dawned on me that my passions and belief in theatre no longer resonate fully in the training of actors, and actually aren’t really understood in most theatre companies around the world,” wrote Rodenburg.  

“The audience deserves important stories that are clear, and the actor’s full presence,” she continued in the two-page missive. “They need to know that they are in front of storytellers who can and want to tell a story. All this is hard work and requires dedication and CRAFT.”

That all-caps “craft” has been the talk of the British drama community ever since.

Craft, or technique, is the development of voice, breath and movement skills that are traditionally considered foundational in acting. They’re the pillars for any performance, but especially for theater, where great British actors have originated rich careers that ultimately stretched to both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, for Hollywood, it’s the Brits’ singular focus on technique and stage experience that has rendered U.K.-bred talent so appealing and versatile. That has translated into award-winning performances: 35 British actors and 27 actresses have won an Oscar.

It’s also likely why classically-trained actors such as Jessie Buckley, Vanessa Kirby, Paapa Essiedu and James Norton have become some of Hollywood’s hottest transplants. Guildhall’s website touts as its alums such favorites in American hit shows and films as Damien Lewis, Michaela Coel, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Dockery and Haley Atwell, all performers who received a B.A. in acting (and all of whom but McGregor started on the stage).

“I've never had a theater actor need coaching for film and television,” Rodenburg tells The Ankler. “What I get are film and television actors — big stars — who come and say, ‘Can you get me on stage?’”

In Rodenburg’s view, craft training has been eroded at drama schools such as the Guildhall as they try to orient students towards the world of film and television. As global streamers such as Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video have geared up U.K. production and driven, until very recently, a television boom, that’s where the steady paychecks have come from — not the pandemic-bruised theater world. In an era where Kim Kardashian is being cast in dramatic roles, and Jake Paul is being paid by Netflix to box Mike Tyson, the incentives for slow and steady development as an actor appear to be eroding.

In this issue, we’ll cover:

• The existential threat for drama schools

• What TV agents are saying

• What actors gain from the traditional three-year teaching process (and the enormous price tag for international students)

• The demand for “vibe” from a performer, not “acting” per se

• What an actor’s age has to do with it

• How acting schools should prepare students for a wider number of job opportunities

• What is different about the age-old “cry for help” from actors today