1945	Mountview’s mission is to deliver excellence and inclusion in dramatic training. In 1945 a young amateur actor, Peter Coxhead, was stationed in wartime Sri Lanka. Unable to join the officer-only entertainment troupe he set up his own, open to all ranks. On returning home to London he saw a need for an equally egalitarian experience and so established Mountview, first as a ‘theatre club’ in Crouch End in north London, before developing it into what would become a world-leading drama school – now one of the most inclusive in the UK. Today Mountview’s mission is to be a performance and creative learning centre of excellence and opportunity for all.

1945

Mountview’s mission is to deliver excellence and inclusion in dramatic training.

In 1945 a young amateur actor, Peter Coxhead, was stationed in wartime Sri Lanka. Unable to join the officer-only entertainment troupe he set up his own, open to all ranks. On returning home to London he saw a need for an equally egalitarian experience and so established Mountview, first as a ‘theatre club’ in Crouch End in north London, before developing it into what would become a world-leading drama school – now one of the most inclusive in the UK.

Today Mountview’s mission is to be a performance and creative learning centre of excellence and opportunity for all.

2020	We are a world-leading drama school Mountview offers professional vocational training in performance and production arts to 460 Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate students. In 2018 we moved to a purpose-built facility in south London and in March 2020 our joint Chief Executives, Sarah Preece and Stephen Jameson, received Olivier Awards recognising their achievement in creating our spectacular new home and their commitment to promoting inclusivity. We attract applicants from 88 countries from across the world and across the UK. Ninety-five per cent of our undergraduate students leave Mountview with agent representation and ninety–seven per cent of our students work in the creative industry within one year of graduation. Seventy per cent of all long-running West End shows feature Mountview graduates.

2020

We are a world-leading drama school

Mountview offers professional vocational training in performance and production arts to 460 Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate students.

In 2018 we moved to a purpose-built facility in south London and in March 2020 our joint Chief Executives, Sarah Preece and Stephen Jameson, received Olivier Awards recognising their achievement in creating our spectacular new home and their commitment to promoting inclusivity.

We attract applicants from 88 countries from across the world and across the UK.

Ninety-five per cent of our undergraduate students leave Mountview with agent representation and ninety–seven per cent of our students work in the creative industry within one year of graduation.

Seventy per cent of all long-running West End shows feature Mountview graduates.

We are a centre
of creativity and opportunity
for all

Our 21 acting and dance studios, two theatres TV and radio suites, practice rooms, meeting rooms and café/bars, housed in a state of the art building, are open to all.

Learn more about our buliding

We built our new home in the middle of a thriving, creative and diverse community, and we offer evening, weekend and holiday classes for all, irrespective of age, background or experience.

Our building is fully accessible to everyone, including wheelchair access to technical areas such as the lighting rig. Leading disability arts practitioners Candoco Dance Company are a resident company.

Our community and short course teams work with local schools on a range of projects, and each weekend over 300 young people make Mountview’s building their home through our Generation N*xt programme of dance, drama and performance classes.

Mountview is committed to ensuring our community is representative: thirty per cent of our undergraduate performance students identify as being Black or other underrepresented community*.

Fifty per cent of our undergraduate performance students, fifty–nine per cent of undergraduate production arts students, and fifty per cent of young people attending Generation N*xt receive means-tested bursaries.

We have over 44 scouting partners for performance and ten scouting partners for production arts across the UK. These partners help us identify potential students who might not traditionally consider drama training as accessible to them for social or economic reasons. Our scouting network is generously supported by the Noël Coward Foundation.

*This term is currently under consultation.

We are a home for the creative industries

Our professional rehearsal facilities and performance spaces have been used by companies that include: Akram Khan Dance Company, Chichester Festival Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sonia Friedman Productions and Sheffield Theatres. We are also home to three resident Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations: English Touring Opera, British Youth Music Theatre and Candoco Dance Company.

Our Vision and Mission