Public Statement Regarding Noel Clarke – 30th April 2021.

“The London School of Dramatic Art (LSDA) wish to formally offer our full support to all the brave woman who have recently shared their stories as part of the recent investigation into the numerous allegations of sexual harassment committed by Noel Clarke.  Like most people, we are appalled by the sheer number of people who have come forward and the nature of these accusations.  What is even sadder for us is that a number of these women are members of the LSDA family, we especially reach out to them so that they know that we trust you and stand in solidarity with you.

In 2011 Noel was invited to join our board of directors.  It was agreed that his involvement would solely be in an advisory capacity and in no way would he be involved in either the management of or teaching within the school.  

Noel was invited to speak to our students on a limited number of occasions, each time in the capacity of an industry talk/Q & A session.  It came to our attention that on one occasion he took it upon himself to turn one of these Q & A sessions into a practical acting workshop.  We were informed that in this unsanctioned class he set up improvisation exercises in which the students were told they had to get undressed and get ready for bed.  Our response was to no longer schedule Noel to take unsupervised sessions with immediate effect. 

Today we have been provided with further details about what happened in this session, and another session previously unknown to us, that has shocked us.  Had we known about these details at the time we would have ended the professional relationship between Noel and our school with immediate effect.  

We would like to stress that it is never appropriate to ask students to remove their clothes nor is it acceptable to suggest that there is any sort of obligation to do so in order to advance your career.  This is not what LSDA stands for.  We have worked hard to build up an environment at LSDA which is a safe space for all our students to learn and develop as both actors and individuals.  We understand that there is a power imbalance between students and staff, and it is our responsibility to always have the student’s wellbeing at the forefront of all that we do. 

Noel has not been active at LSDA since 2015 and our professional relationship has officially ended.

Sexual harassment, intimidation, abuse, and bullying are completely unacceptable in or out of the workplace.  We wish to show our solidarity with the women who have stepped forward and stand with them in an effort to change toxic behaviour in our industry.”

Jake Taylor and the London School of Dramatic Art

 

Update – 4th May 2021

Correction to statement made on 30th April 2021

“In the original statement it was stated that Noel Clarke had not been active since 2015.  After looking through archived schedules we have found one further occasion after May 2015 that Noel came back to speak to our students.  Noel was invited in to give an industry talk to our graduating full-time Advanced Diploma students on the 8th of June 2016.  This session was supervised to ensure that it didn’t deviate from the Q and A format.”

Jake Taylor