Work Experience

APPLICATIONS FOR JULY 2027 YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE WILL OPEN ON

MONDAY 7TH DECEMBER 2026

Every year, the ADC Theatre aims to offer the opportunity for a few students in Year 10 to complete a one-week work experience placement. Places are typically very popular and highly competitive, but if you are interested then we'd love to hear from you.

Please do not send applications or CVs until the applications open on Monday 7th December.

Please read through the following information to check that this is the right programme for you.

The programme is designed to introduce the behind-the-scenes work that goes into theatre administration. The actual activities will depend on the interests of the successful applicants, but please note that this is an administrative placement, and will not involve any form of performance or involvement with a production. If you are looking for experience in acting or directing, this is not the right placement for you.

If, however, you are interested in how a theatre works and is managed, then please do apply. To give you an idea of the kind of things that you might be doing, past activities have included:

• A tour of the theatre, Front of House and Backstage.
• Learning about the termly programming process and how the Theatre Manager decides what productions should be staged at the theatre and its sister venue, the Corpus Playroom, both in and out of student term time.
• Learning how the theatre brings in audiences through its marketing strategies.
• Learning about the theatre’s Front of House operations including FOH management and the Box Office.
• Learning about the theatre’s financial systems and budget.
• Learning about some of the theatre’s technical equipment and risk assessment procedures.
• Learning about the process of bringing a show to the stage: from pre-production and putting together a production team, to rehearsals and staging.
• Interviewing members of the production team of a show being staged at the theatre.
• Shadowing the Duty Manager in the evening to experience what happens Front of House during a show.

In order to fit in with the theatre’s busy schedule, work experience placements for 2027 will be in July 2027 and will either be for 3 or 5 days, depending on availability. The week we choose will either be the week starting Monday 5th July or Monday 12th July and will be decided during the application process, so if you are only available for one of those weeks, let us know, and we will take this into account, but we will not be able to do the work experience at a different time.

Applications for placements in July 2027 will open on Monday 7th December 2026 and close on Friday 29th January 2027 at midday. We recommend that you apply as early as you can, but all applications will be assessed equally, provided they are submitted before the deadline. As there are often many students applying, and places are highly competitive, we will not be accepting late applications.

After this first round of applications has closed, we will select some of the candidates to come for interview. The chosen candidates will be invited for a group interview session at the theatre, which will include a tour of the theatre and a group exercise, and final selections will be made once all the interviews have been completed.

To apply, wait until the applications open in December, and then please send a CV (no more than one side of A4) and a cover letter to Patrick Wilson, Operations Manager operations@adctheatre.com

In your letter please include:

• Name, age, year group and school name.
• Why you are interested in an administrative work placement at the ADC Theatre.
• Something you have researched and found out about the ADC Theatre.
• What part of theatre management you would be most interested in learning about.
• What skills you think are necessary for someone working in theatre management, and describe a couple of experiences you have had that demonstrate that you have some of these skills.
• Tell us about a show you have seen and what you enjoyed about it. (This doesn’t have to be a show at the ADC!)
• Whether you are available during the week of 5th July, 12th July or both.

We tend to have a lot of candidates apply to us each year for work experience, so by doing it in this way, it gives students excellent experience of applying for jobs, and helps us to select the right students for the placement.

If you have any questions, do get in touch by contacting the Operations Manager, Patrick Wilson, by email: operations@adctheatre.com

In the meantime, if this looks like it is a placement for you, then good luck and we look forward to hearing from you in December!