The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (/ˈrɑːdə/), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio.

RADA is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, founded in 1904 by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree.

The royal patron of the school is King Charles III, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

[4][5] The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art was founded on 25 April 1904 by actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (the grandfather of actor Oliver Reed) at the West End's Her Majesty's Theatre (now His Majesty's) situated in Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London.

Its members included George Bernard Shaw, who later donated his royalties from his play Pygmalion to RADA and gave lectures to students at the school.

[9] The academy has received other government funding at various times, including a £22.7 million grant from the Arts Council National Lottery Board in 1996, which was used to renovate its premises and rebuild the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre.

The photographs include John Hurt, Alan Rickman, Sheila Hancock, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes, Edward Woodward, Sir Ian Holm, Richard Attenborough, Joan Collins, Tom Courtenay, Warren Mitchell, Imelda Staunton, June Whitfield, Richard Briers, Glenda Jackson, Juliet Stevenson, Jonathan Pryce, Kenneth Branagh, Ioan Gruffud, Susannah York and Timothy Spall.

[15][16] In 2011, the Lir Academy was established in association with RADA at Trinity College Dublin, with the partnership of the Cathal Ryan Trust.

Following RADA’s conservatoire-style, practical theatre training, the Lir Academy modelled its courses after the London-based school.

The Drill Hall is a Grade II listed building with a long performing arts history, and was where Nijinsky rehearsed with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1911.

[30] In April 2016, planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the Chenies Street premises as part of the Richard Attenborough Campaign.

Auditions are held in London as well as in New York, Los Angeles, Dublin, and across the UK – in recent years this has included Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Chester, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle and Plymouth.

The TTSM course admits up to 30 students a year with a 50–50 gender balance, with the option to interview in Manchester and Plymouth.

Previous attendees have included Allison Janney, Liev Schreiber, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Emma Watson.

The Academy’s education, widening participation and outreach work includes two Youth Companies,[38] schools' workshops, Access to Acting workshops for young disabled people,[39] Shakespeare tours to secondary schools[40] and the RADA Shakespeare Awards.

[42] The Royal Patron of the Academy is King Charles III, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.