Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London

‘The showpiece of the senior student productions at the Webber-Douglas School last night, directed by Alan Simpson, was a rare and surprisingly attractive piece of pacifist propaganda by Shaw. The Inca of Perusalem features the Kaiser as a misunderstood humanist, and British Womanhood as the arbiter of commonsense. It was like seeing a Bernard Partridge cartoon captioned by Joan Littlewood: the oddly sympathetic sketch of decaying royalty in the shadow of Mons must have been, at the time, a difficult and courageous feat of writing: the wit is marvellously cool for such a fevered theme. There is even a derisive and not wholly pompous portrait of the artist. As an exercise for students this was a natural’. Times, 10 April 1964. [The Chanticleer Theatre was the main performance space at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art: Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (zaitseva.com).]

‘John Scarborough is directing a triple bill, to be performed by senior students at the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art at the *Chanticleer on March 31 at 2.30 and 7.30. The programme is to consist of “Sganarelle”, scenes from “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” and “The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet”’. The Stage, 3 March 1966. [* The Chanticleer Theatre was the main performance space at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art: Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (zaitseva.com).]