Interested in learning more about directing? arts facilitation? working with young people?
Apply for this supported development opportunity working alongside our professional project team, gaining hands-on experience in facilitation and directing in a community arts setting.
The Shadow Director will observe, assist, and contribute to the facilitation of Key Words project sessions, plus the creative development of performances of the project showcase, developing their own facilitation and directing skills in a supportive, professional environment.
Key Responsibilities
About Key Words
Key Words is a free, innovative playwriting project developed by Turtle Key Arts for Key Stage 3 students with dyslexia. Designed to unlock creativity and boost confidence in young people who typically face barriers to writing, the project offers a joyful and inclusive route into the arts. Each participant will write their own short play over the course of the workshops. The resulting plays will then be brought to life by professional actors in a rehearsed reading at the Bush Theatre, attended by families, friends and the wider public.
Essential Information
If you have any questions, please contact Niamh via email: niamh@turtlekeyarts.org.uk or phone: 020 8964 5060.
To apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!
In partnership with Wythenshawe Forum Creative Space, Young Identity are offering FREE writing and performance workshops every Thursday at Forum Library for ages 13-25; starting from 8 October until 3 December 2026.
Join a space for young creators to make something they're proud of and work with professional writers, artists and directors. Through performance activities and writing sessions, you can identify your style of writing in a community of creatives.
Essential Information
For more information and to register, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Young Identity run free workshops every week throughout Manchester and Trafford for young creatives aged 13 - 25. With regular attendance, you’ll get access to specialist workshops, creative projects and performance opportunities.
HOME - Mondays 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Central Library - Tuesdays 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Old Trafford - Wednesdays 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Respect and Dignity - Mondays 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM
Verse and Vibe - Tuesdays 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM
For more information and to sign up, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Do you have a good imagination? Are you 11-14 years old and have dyslexia or other difficulties with writing? Can you picture your play on stage?
Apply NOW to take part in our Key Words project!
Essential Information:
What: Work with a professional writer over 8 weekly sessions to create your own play - which will then be performed by professional actors!
Cost: FREE
When: Tuesdays 4pm - 6pm from 22nd September - 17th November (excl. half term) and a final sharing celebration on Saturday 12th December
Where: Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Lyric Square, King Street, W6 0QL (weekly sessions), Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8LJ (final sharing celebration)
How: Contact Turtle Key Arts on 020 8964 5060 / niamh@turtlekeyarts.org.uk for more details
Unity Theatre is partnering with Good Chance to offer a hands-on creative role for someone with experience of forced displacement. We are looking for an Assistant Director to join the team on our new devised Christmas show taking place at Unity Theatre this December.
Essential Information
About the Opportunity
This is a paid training opportunity for someone who wants to develop their skills in directing and making theatre. You will work closely with the Director and creative team throughout rehearsals and the production process.
Although you do not need extensive experience to apply, we do ask that candidates have some experience in theatre making or within a rehearsal room. This could be in a professional capacity, through university placements or independent projects. We are looking for someone who is curious, organised, enjoys working with people, and is excited to learn. This role is a chance to gain hands-on experience creating a new devised theatre production.
About Unity Theatre
Unity Theatre is a home for bold, exciting and inclusive theatre in Liverpool. We support artists at every stage of their careers and champion new voices, diverse stories and creative risk-taking.
Each year we engage around 20,500 people through a diverse programme of professional performances, festivals, participatory projects, creative learning, artist development and community engagement. Alongside presenting nationally recognised theatre, we nurture emerging artists, commission new work and provide opportunities for people of all ages to develop creative skills and confidence.
About the Christmas Show
Unity Christmas show is a devised show, with a focus on physicality and visual storytelling, we pride ourselves on offering a family and neurodiverse friendly alternative to panto for all ages to enjoy.
The process involves a core team of 3 actors who have experience in creating physical devised children’s work, and work well as an ensemble.
About Good Chance
In a world of entrenching polarisation, Good Chance creates ground-breaking, heart-thumping ‘theatre that shakes hands with the world’ (Sunday Times).
Founded by playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, Good Chance established its first temporary Theatre of Hope, an 11-metre geodesic dome, in the heart of the ‘Jungle’ refugee and migrant camp in Calais in 2015, promoting freedom of expression, creativity and dignity for everyone. Good Chance now creates powerful and provoking work including The Jungle, Kyoto and A Grain of Sand, and radical acts of solidarity like The Walk with Little Amal, Fly With Me and From Here On. Their work sparks new connections and conversations across divides, through surprise and spectacle. They connect communities through art and explore the big issues of our time, including migration and the climate crisis, to make real change possible. Central to all of this is the development of displaced artists, to become an integral part of the UK’s creative ecosystem.
In just a decade, Good Chance has reached over 1.2 million in-person and 550 million digitally all around the world, and they’ve worked with over 2,000 artists from 52 countries in 904 events across the UK, USA, Europe, Turkey and Algeria.
About Stage Door
Stage Door is Good Chance Theatre's flagship programme dedicated to creating bespoke paid trainee opportunities for creatives from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds. The programme celebrates and nurtures creative industry professionals while addressing the imbalance of opportunities available to people who have been displaced.
Following the incredible success of Stage Door 10, this traineeship forms part of the development of a new cohort: Stage Door 11. This year, the programme will see 11 traineeships rolled out across the country. As part of Stage Door 11 the Assistant Director will receive a series of one-to-one wellbeing sessions with Good Chance’s Deputy Artistic Director. They will also become part of a cohort of 11 trainees coming together to benefit from networking opportunities, skills development sessions, and masterclasses delivered by Good Chance. Towards the end of their placement, the trainee will also receive three mentoring sessions from a member of the Unity team, supporting them as they reflect on their experience and consider their next steps within the theatre industry.
Role and Responsibilities:
You will support the Director by:
Person Specification
This traineeship is offered as a professional development opportunity open specifically to people from a refugee or asylum seeking background with lived experience of forced displacement.
Essential Criteria
You may have experience through university, community theatre, youth theatre, independent projects or your own creative practice. We welcome people from different artistic disciplines, creative backgrounds and levels of experience.
What You Will Gain
By the end of the placement you will have:
Right to Work
We welcome applications from people who currently have the right to work in the UK including those seeking asylum who are permitted to work. If you’re unsure about your current work eligibility, we encourage you to contact us for clarification
Access
We want this opportunity to be open to as many people as possible. If you have any access requirements, please let us know. We will work with you to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and placement. If there is anything that would help you apply or take part, we encourage you to get in touch.
How to Apply
Please submit the following materials to info@unitytheatre.co.uk no later than 6pm, Sunday 11th October 2026.
Applicants are welcome to submit their applications in a format that is most accessible to them (i.e. a written document, video recording or audio recording).
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss the role in more detail with one of the Unity Theatre team please email elirandle@unitytheatre.co.uk
For more information and to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Young Identity’s year-long Creating Pathways programme supports underrepresented young people aged 13–25 to progress into the creative and cultural sector.
This in-person programme expands learning for young creatives, offering opportunities in event production and workshop facilitation. Through the pathways of our Young Producers and Young Performers, you will gain valuable experience in the creative industries.
You will build relationships with artists, partners and industry professionals to access mentorship opportunities, training and specialist classes. You will access progression opportunities that build confidence and support pathways into cultural leadership, creative practice and wider sector roles.
Essential Information:
For more information to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Explore the work of Caryl Churchill with an in-depth exploration of Dominic Cooke’s new production of Cloud 9, Churchill’s daring satirical classic.
Featuring practical demonstrations and interactive talks, this student conference supports A-Level Drama students with their Live Theatre Review, and English students studying the text or Caryl Churchill’s body of work.
The conference will provide a detailed exploration of Cloud 9.
Students will:
Attendees will also receive a ticket to watch Cloud 9 that evening.
Essential Information:
Please note: this event is for schools and colleges, rather than individuals. Teachers will need to apply for tickets for their classes.
For more information and to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Join our Artistic Director Nuna Sandy to learn about Affinity Groups at Company Three: spaces for young people to come together with artists who share an identity, and to creatively explore that together.
Nuna will share Company Three's journey and approach to this work, and some tips for setting up your own Affinity Groups and making work about identity, led and owned by the teenagers involved.
Essential Information:
For more information and to sign up, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Practitioners working with teenagers are meeting increasingly complex needs. The Youth Theatre Census 2024 highlighted young people's mental health as one of the sector's biggest challenges, and many youth theatres are now offering far more pastoral support than ever before.
Wellbeing and care is central to Company Three's practice - it's fundamental that young people can feel appreciated, safe and have fun in all our sessions.
This workshop shares practical tools to help adults centre wellbeing and care in creative projects.
Essential Information:
For more information, click the Opportunity Info link below!
Led by our Artistic Director Nuna Sandy and our Associate Director Mariana Aritizábal Pardo, this hands-on course will show you how to create devised plays with teenagers about the topics, ideas and stories they care about the most.
Workshop Details:
This is a practical workshop with time to apply exercises and trial learning with the group. Everyone will leave with a toolkit of practical exercises, information and feedback, created in collaboration with the cohort to support in your co-creation journey.
This is a course for people who work with young people and want to provide space and co-create with young people in a wide range of disciplines. As practitioners it’s important we keep learning, growing and being curious. If you want a space to playfully discover or rediscover your practice when looking at co-creation, this is the course for you.
Course Dates:
Thu 15 and Fri 16 October 11:00-16:00
OR
Thu 25 and Fri 26 February 11:00-16:00
Course Cost:
We deliver courses because we think it's important to share practice and provide spaces for artists to grow and learn.
As a charity, we rely on the income from our training courses to sustain and grow our work with young people. This course has been carefully developed through years of practice and reflection at Company Three, drawing on the expertise and experience of our skilled facilitators. Every payment made for this course directly supports our work with young people.
The full price of this course is £250, but we offer a number of subsidised options to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
Options:
For more information and to sign up, click the Opportunity Info link below!
