The head of one of the UK’s leading drama schools is leaving her job at the same time as an investigation into complaints about aspects of her “conduct and management style”. Sarah Frankcom is departing as director of Lamda (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) after less than two years in the job. In a statement its board of trustees said they had been in discussion with Frankcom since early June about her departure and its timing. It added: “In recent weeks, complaints on some aspects of conduct and management style have been made against Sarah by a small number of former and current employees. Following this, the board has instigated a full and fair internal inquiry into the allegations. “No conclusions can or should be reached about those claims until the inquiry process is complete. The wellbeing of all our staff is paramount and the allegations are being taken seriously. Lamda respects the confidentiality of everyone involved during the inquiry process. “Sarah has told the board that she takes any allegations of this nature extremely seriously, welcomes the investigation and respects the confidentiality of the process.” Before joining Lamda, Frankcom spent 21 years at the Manchester Royal Exchange, arriving as literary manager in 1998. She was made joint artistic director in 2008 and sole artistic director in 2014. She regularly collaborated with Maxine Peake, directing her in productions including Hamlet, Miss Julie, Happy Days, The Skriker and A Streetcar Named Desire. She also established the Bruntwood prize for playwrighting, the biggest of its kind in the UK. Frankcom started out as a drama teacher in the east end of London before working with new writers and in drama schools. Before taking up the LAMDA job she told the Guardian she would pursue “radical solutions” to recruit the next generation of actors from around the UK”. She warned that the “talent pipeline” is in a “pretty fragile” state and that “drama schools are still really, really monocultural places”. One of her first moves as director of Lamda was to cut the cost of first round audition fees to get in to the school, stating: “It is all about creating greater opportunity. For too long we have talked about removing barriers to students from challenging and low-income backgrounds.” In the statement, Lamda’s trustees said they wanted to “put on record their appreciation and recognition of Sarah’s hard work during an unprecedented time for Lamda as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic”. The trustees said Frankcom had helped change and reorganise the school “addressing diversity at Lamda as a training organisation” and “successfully moved the exams business online”. Lamda is the oldest drama school in the UK whose alumni includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rory Kinnear, David Oyelowo, Katherine Parkinson, Toby Stephens, David Suchet, Harriet Walter, Ruth Wilson and Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch was appointed president of the academy in January 2018. Lamda said a search for a new director was under way and neither the school or Frankcom would be commenting further on the matter.