We have a limited number of £7 tickets available for The Final Exam: Gao Kao at the Bridewell Theatre, London.
Tickets are available from 23 - 24 August at various times.
What if the most important exam of your life became a battle you had to physically fight?
On the day of the Gaokao — China’s high-stakes university entrance examination — a student enters the exam hall expecting to prove her future. Instead, she finds herself fighting against her own examiners, each representing a different subject and a different definition of success.
Through physical theatre, stage combat, multimedia projection and storytelling, The Final Exam: Gao Kao explores the pressure to achieve, the expectations placed on young people, and the struggle to discover your own voice in a world full of “correct answers”.
Inspired by the experiences of students navigating intense educational systems, this powerful new production asks: When everything you have been taught tells you what to become, how do you decide who you really are?
A bold and emotional theatrical journey about ambition, identity and the courage to question.
Age Guidance: 12+
Running Time: 75 mins, 60 mins
Content/Production Warnings: This show contains depictions of suicide, stage combat with simulated physical violence, intense academic pressure.
Masterclass (part of the Get Into Theatre family) is seeking applications for an Event Management Intern on TheatreCraft. This is an exciting development opportunity for someone who wishes to build a career in producing, stage management, or theatre administration.
About the Event:
TheatreCraft is the UK’s largest free careers event for anyone aged 16-30 seeking offstage roles in theatre. This flagship event takes place at the Royal Opera House and across the West End, featuring over 70 exhibitors and offering more than 70 workshops, tours, and demonstrations. Each year, TheatreCraft welcomes over 1000 young people through the doors.
Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:
As this opportunity is delivered in partnership with Get Into Theatre, we want to be transparent that we are promoting our own programme, while also being confident in the quality, support and industry value it offers to the young people or early-career creatives taking part.
Join us this August for a free, five-day theatre course delivered by the Donmar and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Gain hands-on experience with industry experts and take the next step towards a career in Set and Costume Design, Lighting, Sound, and Stage Management & Stage Technology.
Discover how artists apply artistic and technical skills in real productions, explore pathways into work including apprenticeships, Higher Education and early career employment opportunities.
You’ll build a portfolio of work, meet top industry professionals, and watch a performance at the Donmar.
Fancy trying improv comedy and seeing what it’s all about? Want to play and explore with a friendly group of beginners? Our one-day Intro to Improv Lab is for you.
Our Intro to Improv one-day intensive is a supportive environment introducing you to the basics of improv comedy through games and exercises. Whether you’re a stand-up comedian or an actor looking to branch out, or if you’re completely new to all of it – you’ll be welcomed with open arms.
You will be working with exciting industry professional Charlie Vero-Martin to playfully discover the art of improv, as well as developing skills to build your comedy practice. Charlie is an improviser, comedian, actor and writer with over 18 years of experience. You might recognise her from one of many sell-out and award-winning Edinburgh Fringe shows, or you might know her as a finalist in the Funny Women Stage Award and Leicester Square Theatre Sketch-Off. She writes comedy for BBC and Hat Trick Productions, and has taught improv and character comedy at Hoopla Impro, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and independently. Experienced with clowning, movement and character work, Charlie will lead you through the process of discovering your inner improviser and playing with the group.
Don’t be shy – join us for a day of improv comedy joy.
Course structure
We ask that participants commit to attending the full day.
Applications & Fees
There are 16 places available for this one-day intensive (we keep the numbers low because we want to make sure everyone gets plenty of time in the workshop). The application process is quick and easy – it should take 20 minutes tops. Just go to this form and let us know a bit about yourself and why you want to do the Lab. That’s it!
The fee is £25, with partial and full bursaries available to those on Universal Credit and other welfare benefits. If you are not eligible for a bursary but cost is a barrier to participating, contact us at engagement@sohotheatre.com and we can discuss payment options
Deaf Theatre Makers is delighted to offer 8 paid placement opportunities for deaf creatives across the UK. Working with our partner organisations, these placements are designed to provide hands on experience within professional theatre settings and help deaf people develop skills, confidence and industry connections.
Whether you are interested in producing, technical theatre, programming, creative development or exploring a career behind the scenes, this is an opportunity to learn directly from experienced theatre professionals.
Successful applicants will receive:
Placements do not need to take place over five consecutive days. Depending on the host organisation and your learning goals, activity may be spread across a project, production or period of time.
(shared placement across both organisations)
This placement offers an introduction to producing, programming and arts management across two very different cultural organisations. You will gain insight into how work is programmed, developed and delivered, while meeting staff from a range of departments.
areas of focus include:
timing: Flexible from August 2026 onwards.
This placement can be tailored to your interests and career goals. Working with staff across the organisation, you will have the opportunity to explore the areas of theatre that interest you most.
potential areas of focus include:
timing: Flexible.
This placement will be hands on and can be shaped around your interests and offers the opportunity to gain experience across a range of departments within a producing theatre, or to focus on one or two areas of interest if that is preferred.
potential areas of focus include:
timing: Flexible.
This placement is ideal for anyone interested in producing, technical theatre and the development of new work.
The placement will be linked to a festival taking place at Sheffield Theatres, offering the opportunity to observe and support activity during a busy period of theatre making.
areas of focus include:
timing: Applicants should be available for activity taking place between 28th September and 10th October 2026.
OpenView Education
A mentorship scheme hosted by The Old Vic for mid-career directors, offering insight and support to demystify the next steps in your career.
Three mid-career directors will be paired with established directors for six mentoring sessions taking place between Sep 2026–Feb 2027. Our mentors are Sally Cookson, Richard Jones and Clint Dyer. Monthly mentoring sessions will be scheduled by the mentor and mentee pair, based on availability.
These monthly sessions will provide an opportunity to reflect on professional practice, build new networks and connections, and identify areas for growth and career progression supported by your mentor. Mentees will receive a fee for each session in recognition of the value of dedicating time to career development.
Mentors and mentees will be invited to attend performances at The Old Vic to provide further opportunities to stimulate creative conversation and enrich the process.
Mountview’s one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Stage and Production Management is designed for those looking to enter the profession with limited theatre experience, consolidate existing training, or progress to the next stage of their career.
The course particularly welcomes career-changers and graduates from a wide range of academic backgrounds who have developed an interest in stage and production management through university drama societies, amateur theatre, or other practical performance-making experiences. It is also well-suited to applicants who have already undertaken relevant training or built-up industry experience and are seeking further professional practice, a recognised postgraduate qualification, or the opportunity to strengthen and refine their skills within a conservatoire-style environment.
Students work in a fast‑paced, professional production setting, engaging with a broad range of productions while developing essential practical, creative, organisational and critical thinking skills. The programme balances hands-on production work with theoretical and professional development, preparing students for a sustainable career in the creative arts.
The Diploma offers a clear route to increased employability and professional progression. For those already working in the industry, it provides the opportunity to deepen expertise, expand professional networks, and move forward with confidence into more advanced roles.
COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY
This is a one-year full-time vocational course and is ideal for students who wish to develop their experience and skills in management, theatre production arts or technical theatre through practical work in professional theatre environments.
The course is delivered through:
The course is taught by Mountview’s resident team of tutors, alongside industry professionals who work alongside the students on productions. Previous guest tutors have included professionals from Punchdrunk, Hamilton, The Globe and National Theatre.
This 2-year, part-time MA is a creative and challenging exploration into the power of socially engaged arts. We aim to develop the next generation of cultural leaders and interdisciplinary theatre practitioners. Graduates will lead the way in providing meaningful, inclusive arts experiences that address social, political and educational issues in a broad range of settings.
The course offers a holistic programme that invites creative reflection on the power of storytelling for social transformation. Students address complex issues in critical and creative ways, considering the role of arts in education, migration and exile, health and building communities. You’ll engage with course learning through practical exploration, collaboration, group discussion, independent study and reflective practice.
Delivered part-time, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds, including professionals working in youth, community and/or education settings as well as performers looking to develop and diversify their practice.
VISITING AND GUEST PRACTITIONERS
In addition to the core Mountview team, students work with visiting lecturers and practitioners from a range world-class organisations. These include Turtle Key Arts, Punchdrunk Enrichment, Complicité, Clod Ensemble, Unicorn Theatre, Clean Break, Theatre Peckham, Candoco Dance Company, Brixton House, Wales Millenium Centre, Tate Modern, Glasshouse Theatre and Access All Areas.
Topics covered by visiting lecturers are varied and include:
Students are supported to discover placements for their independent research projects based on their specific interests and emerging ideas and practice. Recent partnerships include Newham Children In Care Council, Little Fish Theatre Company and Tropical Pressure Festival, among others.
COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY
There is one day of in-person teaching each week, with one additional Friday and Saturday each term.
Throughout the course students develop skills in critical thinking, facilitating, devising, leading, producing, discussing and teaching creatively and imaginatively. Study involves workshops, lectures and seminars as well as independent collaborative and solo practice/research. Students are assigned weekly reading materials to digest course themes and engage in learning through independent study.
Reciprocal and collaborative learning is embedded into course practice. Students are provided with opportunities to design and lead practical workshops for one another, to bring topics for facilitated discussion with their Course Leader and to choose areas of focus for specific assessments, based on their interests and experiences.
Practical areas of study include collaborative and ensemble techniques, forum theatre, arts for wellbeing, devised theatre, inclusive and trauma informed practices, arts and money, decolonial feminist approaches, facilitating in multilingual and multifaith spaces, and ethics in artistic practice.
Students gain practical experience running workshops in schools, both in Peckham and further afield – previous locations include Spain and Nigeria.
Students engage in a wide range of texts such as Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks and Theatre for Living: The Art and Science of Community-Based Dialogue by David Diamond.
Assessments are varied and include essays, talks, education packs, presentations, and workshop samples.
Making Tracks and our linked progression projects have been designed to inspire, engage and empower young people to aspire and achieve via creating original music. The young people we reach are usually aged 16-25, facing barriers from not being in education, employment or training, and/or on a community sentence/prevention programme run a Youth Offending Service. Many will be experiencing challenging circumstances and be in need of support to increase their self-confidence and transferable skills. As well as enhancing their creativity, we guide their future progression.
Following a pilot in 2011, Making Tracks was first established in South London in 2012; we have continually revised the shape of the programme reflecting the feedback from the young people taking part, over 57 projects to date, and have expanded delivery from London to also reach young people in Bristol, Kent, Manchester and Newcastle.
