Corona Stage Academy

Corona Stage Academy also known as The Corona Stage School was a successful British drama school founded by Miss Rona Knight in the mid 1940's. The school started in Chiswick before later moving to 16 Ravenscourt Avenue, Hammersmith in 1955. The school produced many top names of the British stage and screen, but it closed in 1989 following the retirement of its principal, Miss Rona Knight.

Rona Knight

Knight was the daughter of draper Leonard Knight, who ran his business from a shop situated on the north side of Chiswick High road. Her mother was Ellen Edith Speck, one of 22 children from a horse racing family. There were 4 children born to Mr and Mrs Knight, Rona born first then came Hazel, Muriel and finally the only boy Derrick.

Every summer, Rona's family spent a few months in Hindhead, this was where she made her first stage appearance at the age of 11. She decided to put on a show for the benefit of the Sunday school that she and her sisters attended. At just 14 and a half, Rona decided that what she really wanted to do was travel to Hollywood, to seek a career as a dancer in the movies. To finance this dream she started to teach dancing to other young girls like herself. Her mother allowed her the use of a large room in the family home, thus the Corona Dancing School was born. Later, she started holding lessons in a tin hut beside Gunnersbury Railway station and also in the Church Hall of St. James’s Church, Brook Road, Chiswick.

Pre-World War II

The origin of the name of Corona came from Knight herself. She was born on 22nd June 1911 which happened to be the coronation day of King George V and was given the name Cora by her parents in celebration of the day. Her family always called her Rona so this was to become the name she was known by for the rest of her life, incorporating the name and its origins in the name of her school.

As the numbers of pupils grew, and of various ages, the younger children retained the name 'Corona Babes' whilst the older ones were known as 'The Corona Juveniles' and also 'The Corona Kids'. These children worked all round the British Isles in Music hall and variety along with well known adult performers of their day including Gracie Fields and many others.

The Knight family moved to 26, Wellesley Road, Chiswick in 1936 which was a spacious double fronted house near to Gunnersbury station with plenty of room for Rona and her sisters to continue to teaching her young pupils dancing, acting and singing. The school continued to flourish over the next three years until the threat of war began to loom over the country in 1939.

World War II

The outbreak of war severely disrupted the running of the school, particularly as the wholesale evacuation of children meant the loss of many of her pupils. Rona left the everyday running of what was left of the school in the hands of her mother and two sisters, Hazel Malone and Muriel Knight, who continued right throughout the war to provide young trained singers and dancers for the entertainment of the public.

Rona however, preferred to get more involved with the war effort so she enlisted in the hospital section of ENSA using the stage name of Rona Brandon. (This was taken from Michael Brandon, the name of a character played by Gary Cooper in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife.^{[citation needed]}) Rona became well known as a BBC and recording soprano, taking part in many shows arranged by ENSA. She even sung a solo in front of the King of Norway. Travelling around with ENSA during the war soon widened Rona's horizons and knowledge making her aware of new techniques and training available. She was keen to improve her own teaching abilities to provide more extensive tuition for her pupils and so she enrolled at the Paris School of Mime, Dance and Drama in 1950. By the end of that year she was advertising her school as "The Corona Academy of Stage Training".

Arlington Park

As her school began to expand, once again the search was on for larger premises. She did consider the old Cinema Royal off Chiswick High Road, but this building was too dilapidated to be economically restored to the standards needed for a school. So eventually the premises chosen were buildings of the old Arlington Park School in the grounds of Arlington Park House. Chiswick

Rona did most of the teaching herself but by the 1950’s she was also employing professional teachers. In 1955 the school moved again and with financial backing from her mother, a large detached house adjoining Ravenscourt Park, originally St. Peter's vicarage situated at 16, Ravenscourt Avenue was purchased. Although the buildings at Arlington Park, still continued to be used for dance lessons until the 1970's, the children having had their lunch in Hammersmith would then travel to Chiswick for afternoon classes.

Theatre buiding

In 1958, work started on a theatre to enable the students to put on their own theatrical productions, also learning all forms of drama and theatre studies, including stage management. This was a real do-it yourself venture as many of the students took an active part in the actual construction of the theatre, including digging out the foundations and constructing the brickwork to a height of about eight feet. This was under the guidance of a professional builder who happened to be one of the students parents. So this way a lot of the basic spadework done by the students to save money, then the professional contractors took over to complete the more complicated bits. The overall building costs were only £5,000 with most of this money being raised subscriptions, donations, fetes and jumble sales. The principal, Rona Knight also put some savings of her own into the venture. The stage was quite large for a school theatre being 25 feet by 18 feet with a small lighting gallery. Two dressing rooms were built at the rear of the theatre. The tip up seats in the auditorium, which seated 150 people, had been purchased from the old Chiswick Empire.

The foundation stone included in the wall of the building, clearly states that it was laid by Joan Crawford who also donated £100 towards the cost of the building. Other stars had been equally generous with donations. But unfortunately Joan didn’t actually lay the stone as stated, because on the day in question Joan Crawford was unwell and unable to attend the ceremony. So Mr. Lloyd the odd job man did the honours and laid the stone, causing the children to nickname him Joan for ages afterwards. The theatre officially opened on Monday the 25th of April 1960, with a revue entitled “This Is It” which was staged by the students. The opening ceremony was to have been performed by Sir Richard Attenborough but at the last minute he was called away to Liverpool for location shots on the film he was working on. He did, however, send a telegram wishing the theatre every success.

1960s expansion

In the 1960's there was need for more dance space so the land at the side of the main school and theatre was cleared and 2 prefabricated buildings erected. These 2 large dance studios were in use right up until the school closed.

Bt the 1970's Rona had obtained some excellent annexe buildings in which to house her ever expanding school. These included the Polish Centre in Kings Street Hammersmith, Flames Dance Studio, and the West End Baptist Church which housed several classrooms and had a large hall as well.

Knight's retirement

In 1989 at the age of 78 Rona Knight decided that it was time for her to retire and she felt that it would be inappropriate for the school to continue without her, as the school had always been under her personal supervision throughout its entire existence. She felt that she would rather leave with dignity, whilst the school was still running successfully.

Sir Robin Phillips Baronet who had worked closely with Hazel Malone in her west end office and had later taken over the running of the school agency after the death of John Martin wanted Corona to continue with him as principal. But Rona was adamant that Corona Academy must close, although she had no objections to him opening a similar school under another name to re-house her pupils, he or anyone else, was not to use the name Corona as the name was personal to her. So on the 14th of July 1989 Corona Academy closed down and for many of us old pupils it was an end of an era. Rona Knight died in 2003 and is greatly missed by all her ex-pupils.

Ravenscourt Theatre School

The spirit of Corona rose again like a 'Phoenix from the ashes' in the guise of the Ravenscourt Theatre School. The distinctive green and yellow uniform was still the same, only the badge was different it now showed RTS instead of CA. Sir Robin Phillips took over as principal and together with Jayne Knight (Rona Knight's niece), Joan Tandy and Rev. Bob Blakeley (Corona Head teacher), put 'The Ravenscourt Theatre School' together, opening in September 1989. Several of the academic and vocational staff from Corona notably Mrs Lynch, Paul Lockwood and Judi Swinny, joined the new school, Martin Beaumont taking on the Head of Vocational Training position. On its first day over 75 pupils turned up, all but 6 coming from Corona. The West End Baptist Church had now become the main school building instead of just an annexe and other buildings including the Polish centre then became annexes for some classes. The school thrived for many years finally taking on larger premises, in Hammersmith with large studio spaces, which finally had the entire school and agency office under the same roof for the first time. Sir Robin Phillips has now retired living most of his time in India and enjoying his retirement.

Ravenscourt Theatre School recently relocated to smaller premises in Brentford, due to few families being able to afford private school fees and falling numbers the large premises in Hammersmith became untenable. Since the move RTS went into liquidation and closed, a new Corona Theatre School opened on the same site. (There is not a member of the Knight family left at the school, Jayne Knight having left when RTS closed in February 2010.)

Alumni

• Andrew O'Connor
• Antonia Moss
• Ben Davis
• Carol White
• Catherine Howe
• Chloe Franks
• Christopher Witty
• Darryl Read
• Dennis Waterman
• Dorian Healey
• Emma Davies
• Francesca Annis
• Frazer Hines
• Gary Love
• Helen Worth
• Jill Kenton
• John Pickard
• Judy Geeson
• Karen Scargill
• Lee Whitlock
• Mark Dightam
• Mark Lester
• Mitch Mitchell
• Nicholas Lyndhurst - after whom the "Nicholas Lyndhurst Cup for Dramatic Achievement" is named
• Nicholas Pandolfi
• Nick Pickard
• Nicola Stapleton
• Nigel Wren
• Patsy Kensit
• Ray Winstone
• Richard O'Sullivan
• Robyn Mandell
• Sally Geeson
• Sean Chapman
• Sheila White
• Susan George

External links

• Ravenscourt Theatre School Official Website