Podcast Teasers: David Tennant in Drama School….Just Because
Earlier today two posts I saw on Twitter - but which didn’t initially appear connected - made that ever-present “David Tennant in drama school” connection happen in my brain. It made me think…was it a sign? Perhaps it’s apropos to feature the teeniest tidbit from my podcast research? The first real teaser-thing-whatever where I reveal actual DT drama school unknowns?
I had to think about it for a while, but I eventually came ‘round to it.
(And oh, as an aside, my podcast will be called A Tennantcy To Act. So that’ll be what it is, whenever I get the bloody thing off the ground. Grrrr…..)
Anywaaaay, here’s the teaser story.
Our story begins with a tycoon – Reos Stakis. I’m pretty sure Scots of a certain age will know him. He came to Scotland from his native Cyprus in 1928 to sell lace, and from those meager beginnings, he created the Stakis dynasty of hotels, restaurants and casinos. Reos was knighted by the Queen in 1988, and in 1998 sold his leisure chain to Ladbrokes for over 1.3B pounds. He was also a legendary philanthropist, giving millions in donations to public institutions, educational facilities, and charities.
One of these was the Royal Academy of Music and Drama.
I know this will seem like a wild swing from the subject, but this brings me to one of the things I saw today. This short video is a heartwarming paean to true love, and I encourage you to watch it. It features two iconic British actors, Timothy West and Prunella Scales.
If you’re young, you might not know who West and Scales are. Scales is best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, the bossy wife of Basil Fawlty, in the BBC comedy 'Fawlty Towers’. And West is an accomplished stage actor, especially in Shakespeare.
We’ll return to West and Scales in due course. For right now, we’ll turn back to the Stakis family and their donations to the Royal Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire. (For the rest of this post I’ll be referring to the RCS as the RSAMD, as that was what it was called during this time period.)
Reos Stakis had a son, Andros. Andros became the managing director and deputy chairman of the Stakis empire in 1988. And oh yes…..he held varying positions on the board of the RSAMD from 1989-1991.
As you may (or may not) know, the years of these board positions coincide almost perfectly with David’s years at the RSAMD. David began his tenure at the RSAMD almost exactly 35 years ago - he enrolled in late September 1988, and graduated in June 1991 with a BA in Dramatic Studies.
The donations made to the RSAMD by the Stakis family made some exciting opportunities open up for the students attending the Academy…David amongst them. The RSAMD decided to use these funds to create what they called Stakis Masterclasses.
Stakis Masterclasses were on a wide range of topics and were designed to accommodate all RSAMD students, drama students and music students alike. For example, music students could attend classes by recognized musicians on various instruments like the cello, the trumpet, or piano. With regards to drama, they were a novel venture indeed! Their classes were opened to both students and the public, and gave a public audience of lay and professional people an insight into specialist areas of the drama process. They did this with the help of established actors. Tickets were usually free at the door, though for some of the classes tickets were available in advance to drama students and the public. Topics were as wide ranging as how to use one’s voice, how to portray comedy, or how to read verse.
The classes began in 1989, and by 1991 they were an established part of the RSAMD experience. One can imagine David attended some of these classes, as his interest in perfecting his craft has been ever-present. Exactly how many he attended isn’t known.
But one is!
It so happened a famous acting couple - Timothy West and Prunella Scales - were touring together in Long Day’s Journey into Night at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow in March 1991. As Prunella had done a previous Stakis Masterclass in 1989, it was not surprising she would do another - this time joined by her husband.
So on 26 March 1991, Scales and West agreed to do Masterclasses for the RSAMD. The couple did a double-act on Acting Verse - Scales concentrated on the Shakespeare sonnets, while West helped students work on speeches from the plays. After finishing the classes, Scales and West (and the entire 'Long Days’ company) were guests of the school for lunch. The couple then lead a discussion with the company and students, who that evening attended a performance of Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the Theatre Royal.
This brings me to the second post I mentioned at the beginning - you know, the other which clicked in my brain? It’s this one and it shares that tomorrow David will appear on BBC Four to reminisce about his role as Hamlet before the channel airs a repeat of his 2008 turn as the Dane.
But you see, contrary to popular belief, 2008 wasn’t his first go at Hamlet. He’d done it before.
Yep! He’d played Hamlet in that Timothy West and Prunella Scales masterclass. And while I don’t know how much of the play he did during the class - perhaps it was only a few lines, or a soliloquy or two - it was enough of an effort to get remembered.
And that, my friends, is the end of the story.