Arden School of Theatre

The Arden School of Theatre, also known as The Arden, is a drama school which is part of the Performing Arts faculty at UCEN Manchester in England, United Kingdom.

History
The school was founded jointly by the Royal Exchange Theatre and South Manchester College in 1991 by the senior curriculum manager Robert S. Ely, to provide vocational degree level theatrical education in the North of England, one of the first to provide theatrical degrees in the United Kingdom. The name derived from the original City College Arden Campus where the drama school had been based between 1991 and 2004, in Northenden, South Manchester.

In 2006, The Arden moved into new premises located over three floors at Universal Square. In September 2010 The Arden moved into Nicholls House, Ardwick, Manchester, a renovated Victorian building with additional rehearsal space, production rooms, and voice and singing rooms.

The college is a founder member of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills.

In 2024 the college became accredited by the CDMT.

Facilities
In September 2022 The Arden moved into a new campus, City Campus Manchester, located opposite the AO Arena near Manchester City Centre; a newly built campus for UCEN Manchester courses. The facilities include a two theatre spaces, wardrobe areas and costume design/build workshop, rehearsal rooms, drama studios, ensemble rooms, singing rooms, film studios, classrooms, band rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and state of the art recording studios and live rooms.

Courses and faculty
The school provides six BA (Hons) programmes, validated by Sheffield Hallam University in Acting, Dance and Performance, Musical Theatre, Technical Theatre and Stage Management, Theatre and Performance, and Vocal Studies and Performance, as well as postgraduate studies in Theatre Directing and Musical Direction.

The Arden teaching faculty includes theatre professionals such as musical director Robert Purvis and actor/composer Graham Lappin, television and film actors Marie Critchley, and Paul Broughton, dancers Belinda Grantham and Tomas Simon, and performance makers Wayne Steven Jackson and Graham Hicks.

The college has a wide range of relationships locally with the Contact Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre. Graduates showcases are presented each year both in the region and in London, with a number of casting agents for acting, dance, and musical theatre.

Alumni
Graduates of the school include:


 * Zöe Lucker - actress: Footballers' Wives, HolbyBlue, EastEnders


 * Tracy Shaw - actress: Coronation Street
 * Cherylee Houston - actress Coronation Street
 * Kim Tiddy - actress Hollyoaks
 * Shaun Dooley- Actor: ''The Woman in Black, The Awakening,
 * Saoirse-Monica Jackson - actress, Derry Girls
 * Kim Tiddy - Actress
 * Amanda Henderson - Actress
 * Ayvianna Snow - actress