In 2019, as a present to himself for his 80th birthday Ian McKellen went on a tour of the UK visiting 87 venues with a one-man show. The aim was to raise money for each venue he visited. Later that year the show transferred to the West End for 88 performances.
The final two shows were captured by the producing team in conjunction with NT Live. In 2021 the show became, and remains, available to watch on Amazon Prime for customers in UK and Ireland and globally via NT @ Home.
All remaining profits from both the West End run and the future broadcast including any salary Ian would have received will be distributed to help emerging producers by providing a one-off grant.
This grant may be used towards both capitalisation and running costs, specifically for the payment of actor wages. Awards of up to £25,000 are available, provided the Producer pays the cast no less than Equity minimum rates and that total actor fees are consistent with industry norms for the venue in which the work is presented.
The Live Entertainment & Arts Foundation and ATG Productions are proud to facilitate these grants to enable ambitious theatre productions that create employment for artists, expand opportunities for emerging producers, and bring high-quality work to audiences that might otherwise not reach the stage.
Between now and April 2029, our ambition is to provide support to a minimum of 30 productions by way of these grants.
This grant supports emerging theatre producers and independent production companies to create ambitious work and employ larger casts.
Purpose of the Grant
The grant aims:
Join the Royal Shakespeare Company over May Half Term to discover The Tempest, Shakespeare’s magical story of family, freedom and forgiveness.
Calling all budding actors! Spend a day working and training like an actor in an RSC Rehearsal Room. Unlock Shakespeare's language and make the play your own, looking at key scenes and characters from The Tempest. Adults do not need to stay for Acting Masterclasses.
Their workshops are available for a variety of age-groups, please see dates and times per age group below.
Ages 8-11:
Ages 11-14:
Ages 14-18:
Join the Royal Shakespeare Company over May Half Term to discover The Tempest, Shakespeare’s magical story of family, freedom and forgiveness.
Get the whole family involved with a fun, bitesize storytelling session, introducing you to the world of The Tempest, where YOU are part of the story! With this gentle, imaginative workshop, take a journey through the play with a mixture of actor-led storytelling, play, drama games and exercises.
Date: 29 May
Time: 10am or 11.30am
Location: Clore Learning Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Are you passionate about creating theatre for young audiences? DIRECTORS IN TYA – An International Exchange 2027 is now open for applications, offering a space to research, experiment, connect and shape the future of theatre for young audiences.
🌐 Theatre directors specialising in TYA from all over the world can apply. Each ASSITEJ centre can issue one letter of recommendation. Please get in touch with your National Centre.
New: Applicants from Germany 🇩🇪 also need a letter of recommendation from one of ASSITEJ Germany's member theatres.
In 2027, the next edition will be hosted by COMEDIA Theatre Cologne which focusses on common spaces and community-based work in the arts.
COMMON SPACES are places of gathering and togetherness. Places that serve equal exchange, benefit a variety of people and are open to all. They are spaces that belong to those who shape them and are shaped by those who inhabit them. Spaces that are inhabited by communities and themselves give rise to communities themselves.
How can a theatre be a place of encounter? What is either a desire or a claim in many places is already practice and reality elsewhere. But what does this look like? And how is it shaped by, with and for young people?
For one week, COMEDIA Cologne is opening its theatre to the participants of the ASSITEJ DIRECTORS IN TYA – An International Exchange so that they can create their own COMMON SPACE. Which aesthetic practices of shared spaces with children and young people do the individual participants bring with them? Which ones does the group collectively produce? How do these practices shape the space? And how can this idea of COMMON SPACE serve as a blueprint for one’s own work for, with and by children and young people?
For years, the idea of “making it” in theatre has followed a familiar script: go to university or attend drama school, earn a degree and then, maybe, you’ll land a job.
But that’s only one version of the story.
The truth is, theatre has never had a single entry route. Many people build careers through practical experience, training on the job, and creating their own opportunities, and crucially, this doesn’t just happen in London.
Apprenticeships are one of the most accessible and structured ways to begin a career in theatre. They combine paid work with hands-on training, allowing you to learn directly from industry professionals.
Major organisations like the National Theatre, the Royal Ballet and Opera, and the Royal Shakespeare Company offer established apprenticeship schemes in areas such as technical theatre, stage management, and costume.
Outside of London, opportunities are just as valuable. Theatr Clwyd and Leeds Playhouse, for example, run programmes that focus on developing local talent and opening doors into the industry.
Apprenticeships offer:
Paid internships in theatre do exist, but they can be harder to find and are often highly competitive. They’re usually offered through specific programmes rather than widely advertised roles.
Masterclass, the Birmingham Hippodrome and Creative Access, for instance, partner with producers and theatres to provide internships that give insight into how the industry operates behind the scenes.
While not as accessible as apprenticeships, internships can still:
Not everyone wants, or needs, to commit to full-time training. Short courses offer a flexible way to develop your skills, whether that’s acting, directing, writing, or technical theatre.
Institutions like the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama offer part-time courses, but similar opportunities can often be found at regional theatres and arts centres across the UK.
These courses allow you to:
It’s easy to think of theatre as London-centric, but the UK has a rich network of regional venues creating high-quality work and supporting emerging talent.
Organisations like the Bristol Old Vic, Royal Exchange Theatre, Northern Stage, Birmingham Hippodrome, and the National Theatre of Scotland all offer development programmes, workshops, and early-career opportunities.
Starting outside London can often mean:
One of the most powerful ways into theatre is to stop waiting for permission.
Write a play. Organise a scratch night. Collaborate with other creatives. Platforms like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe have launched countless careers built on self-created work.
Creating your own opportunities shows initiative and gives you something tangible to build on.
There’s no single way into theatre, and that’s what makes it such an exciting industry to be part of. Whether you choose an apprenticeship, apply for internships, take short courses, or start creating your own work, each path offers something different.
What matters is finding the route that works for you, your circumstances, your interests, and the way you learn best. Theatre needs a range of voices and experiences, and there’s space for more than one way in.
There isn't one fixed pathway. Find the route that suits you, and start there.
Drama and Creative Writing work together to craft powerful stories, invent new forms of expression, and engage audiences and readers in fresh ways of thinking. Whether on the page, stage or screen, these disciplines help us explore what it means to be human.
The Drama and Creative Writing degree at UEA gives you the chance to study in two outstanding departments, including the longest-established and most prestigious Creative Writing department in the UK. You’ll be taught by experienced artists, writers, and researchers who will support you in developing both your creative voice and your performance skills. By combining your passions for text and performance, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how they inform and inspire one another.
You’ll explore both disciplines, studying acting, innovative playwrights, writing, and theatre practices from around the world. You’ll learn the art of writing, including for stage and screen, the craft of theatre-making, and how critical thinking leads to rigorous and powerful work. You’ll have the opportunity to study all kinds of creative writing, with a particular focus on writing for theatre, cinema, television, and radio. Alongside this, you'll be exploring the contemporary practice, criticism, and history of dramatic writing and performance. Your writing will be enriched by an awareness of theatrical and literary traditions from around the globe.
You’ll work in their professional Drama Studio, benefiting from their highly regarded student-run Minotaur Theatre Company and gaining even more performance, technical, and scriptwriting experience. Studying in Norwich means you’ll have access to a rich arts scene, including Norwich Theatre, Norwich Arts Centre, UEA Live, and the National Centre for Writing.
Your degree could take you into a career in the creative industries, as a writer or working in theatre, film, and radio. Or you might choose to take your collaborative, creative and critical skills into a host of other professions or into business.
This Masters gives you a practical and theoretical engagement with the many forms of writing and production for theatre. Blending practice, theory and history, the programme is designed for those wishing to develop playwriting skills and knowledge of script development and support, opening the way to many theatre roles, including dramaturgy. You will learn about the changing roles of the playwright and dramaturge in contemporary theatre in the UK and elsewhere around the world, and be supported to define your own creative practice while developing valuable transferable skills in research, project management and critical reflection.
WHY THIS PROGRAMME
In this course, you will develop your skills in writing for radio, theatre and screen with an emphasis on your individual voice and style.
You will graduate with a portfolio of pieces and an understanding of how to approach theatres and film and TV production companies and work towards securing commissions as a professional playwright or screenwriter.
The MLitt will provide you with technically-oriented tuition by leading contemporary and award-winning playwrights, with an emphasis on best practice in recent and contemporary writing.
At RADA, you learn by doing. You will engage in creatively rigorous and fulfilling vocational training that immerses you in the world of the professional playwright, ensuring you're artistically and practically equipped for the industry. Through continuous reflective practice you will workshop your writing, gain feedback and develop your creative work.
Teaching will be delivered by seminar (lecture and discussion), masterclasses, one-to-one tutorials, group tutorials and writing workshops.
Throughout your training, you will receive personalised feedback and career guidance to develop your expertise, resilience and leadership. The course will also include theatre trips, and prioritise an understanding of access, diversity, and inclusion.
This MA programme will enhance your creative and collaborative abilities while developing your playwriting craft. You will establish your identity as a creative practitioner with the skills and confidence to take an original idea from conception to production.
You will consider the role of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, and the impact they may have on the writing process and creative practice and industries.
Through this course you will write two plays; a one act play for a showcase reading, and the first draft of a full-length play for submission to professional production companies.
This new Master’s degree is designed to provide practical experience in directing and creating work for the theatre. Collaboration is at the heart of the programme to effectively replicate industry.
You will have the opportunity to work with students from other courses including acting, film, television and theatre production, set design, visual effects and costume – to deliver projects from start to finish.
Under guidance from experienced writers, directors and actors, you will explore and manage the entire directing process. From planning and prep work, through the rehearsal process to the final performance.
Working within the School’s Acting department you will have access to dedicated rehearsal rooms, our theatre and, where required, film & television studios.
The focus of this Master’s degree is the development of your directorial skill-set and style – whether that be in creating new work or in exciting and innovative interpretations of existing plays.
You will work on a wide range of approaches to directing, ranging from how to work with text to creating work through multi-media in performance. There are opportunities to look at ways of creating your own work with an ensemble and gain knowledge of funding applications so you are ready to set up your own company after graduation.
By the end of this intensive year-long programme, you have completed at least three contrasting and challenging projects. There will be opportunities to shadow directors and work as an assistant director on a range of projects to help inform your own practice.
