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Making theatre together for wellbeing and connection
Theatre Club is a free ten-week course for adults aged 18 and over. You’ll use theatre skills to build your confidence, meet new people, and support your wellbeing through creativity.
It’s for people who have found it hard to get into the arts before. This might be due to cost, confidence, health, caring for someone, or simply never having been asked. You don’t need any experience in theatre, just a curiosity to try something new. We run Theatre Club twice a year, with up to 25 people each time.
To join, you need to come to a taster session first. You can find full details on how to do this below.
Creating original theatre
This year, Theatre Club will focus on devising, making your own original piece of theatre from scratch, as a group. You’ll collectively work together to build something from your own ideas. This course is led by Old Vic Education Associate Ben Vardy.
The sessions will explore:
- Creative writing, including monologues, dialogues and stream-of-consciousness writing
- Improvisation techniques to create new characters, scenes, and stories together
- Movement and physical theatre to help communicate ideas and tell stories
- Building confidence in sharing ideas, performing and working creatively as an ensemble.
Every Theatre Club course includes:
- Ten weekly workshops led by a professional theatre practitioner and a wellbeing facilitator
- One free ticket to see an Old Vic production
- A backstage tour of The Old Vic
- A welcome pack and resources you can use beyond the course
- An end of year celebration event bringing together people from both cohorts
- An invitation to join our OV Community Network mailing list for ongoing free and low-cost opportunities
- Access and travel support if you need it
This course is for adults 18 and over who:
- Are curious about trying something new, and have little or no previous theatre experience
- Have faced barriers to accessing arts opportunities before. This could be for personal, social, money, cultural, health or other reasons.
- Would like to build confidence and connect with others in a welcoming group
You also need to:
- Be based in London or surrounding areas and able to travel to The Old Vic
- Be available for the full term dates
Priority for places
If the course is oversubscribed, we’ll prioritise people who have been left out of arts opportunities. That may include (but isn’t limited to) people from the Global Majority, people from working class backgrounds, people who grew up in care, carers, disabled and neurodivergent people, and LGBTQIA+ people.
Taster sessions: 19 or 20 Oct 2026
10 week course:
- Week One Tue 17 Nov 2026, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Two Tue 24 Nov 2026, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Three Tue 01 Dec 2026, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Four Tue 08 Dec 2026, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Five Tue 15 Dec 2026, 6.30-8.30pm
Break for Christmas and New Year
- Performance visit – Tue 05 Jan 2027, 7.30–10.30pm
- Week Six Tue 12 Jan 2027, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Seven Tue 19 Jan 2027, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Eight Tue 26 Jan 2027, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Nine Tue 02 Feb 2027, 6.30–8.30pm
- Week Ten Tue 09 Feb 2027, 6.30–8.30pm
You can apply yourself or a charity, community organisation, link worker or social prescriber, can apply on your behalf.
Step one: come to a taster session at The Old Vic
To be considered for the full course, you’ll need to come to a taster session on either:
- Mon 19 Oct 2026, 6.30–8.30pm
- Tue 20 Oct 2026, 6.30–8.30pm
Pick whichever suits you and request a place using this form. The deadline to sign up is Fri 09 Oct, 9am.
The taster is not an audition. It’s designed for complete beginners so there will be no solo work or being put on the spot. Come along, have a go, and see whether it feels right for you before you decide to apply. It’s also our chance to talk you through what the course actually involves.
Step Two: Tell us you’d like a place
After the taster, we’ll send you a short form to fill in if you’d still like to be considered for the full 10-week course. We’ll confirm final places by Fri 30 Oct. We can offer up to 25 places each term, and more people usually come to tasters than that. If we can’t offer you a place this time, we’ll let you know and tell you about other ways to get involved with us.
- All sessions take place in The Old Vic’s step-free Backstage building
- At The Old Vic, we are committed to providing inclusive access to support participants’ creative and learning processes. We will work with you to implement any reasonable adjustments before the programme begins to ensure the right support is in place
- Course content and resources can be adapted to suit your learning style
- Additional access and travel support can be provided if required
- The Old Vic offers accessible performances, including Captioned, Audio Described, British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreted and Relaxed performances. Find out more about access at The Old Vic on our website.
If you would like to discuss your access requirements or if you have any questions before applying, please contact ovcommunity@oldvictheatre.com
If you have any questions, please contact ovcommunity@oldvictheatre.com.