Delighted audiences: the Polka Theatre’s free ticket scheme for school groups is being extended this year
The Polka Theatre is to give away 9,000 free tickets to schoolchildren this year, part of its Curtain Up! programme, thanks to a new commitment from The Garek Trust – a London-based charity dedicated to providing underprivileged young people with access to the arts.
The theatre giveaway is a 50% increase on the Polka Theatre’s previous number of free tickets – and comes after they had applications last year for more than 11,500 tickets, with some applying from as far away as Wiltshire and Hertfordshire.
The Garek Trust’s funding will also enable a subsidised schools tour of Polka Theatre and Beats and Elements’ remixed production of Romeo and Juliet. The production will tour during spring 2025, following its hugely successful previous run in Polka’s Adventure Theatre and pilot schools tour earlier this year.
The 2025 tour will see 15 performances and workshops taking place over a three-week period (February 24 to March 14), available to schools across Greater London who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend live theatre.
The Garek Trust said, “Programmes like ‘Curtain Up!’ are what The Garek Trust is all about. We are delighted that our funding will give so many additional children the exposure to theatre that they wouldn’t have otherwise experienced.
“We salute Polka Theatre for their incredible work within the community!”
Helen Matravers, Polka’s artistic director, said, “The reaction from schools to Romeo and Juliet last year blew us away. We couldn’t meet the demand from schools who wanted to receive the show, and so this is an incredible opportunity to take Polka’s work to many more young audiences.
“To share accessible, vibrant Shakespeare of this quality with young audiences, presented in a way they won’t have seen before, is amazing – and crucially in an affordable way for schools who otherwise may not get the chance to host live theatre and music for their students to experience.”
The Polka Theatre, on Wimbledon Broadway, says that they have experienced “a huge surge in demand” in 2023-2024. Under the Curtain Up! scheme, they allocated more than 6,000 tickets to 78 schools across 33 performances of nine productions.
Curtain-Up! “provides free tickets to school groups who face barriers that make it harder to access live theatre”.
Theatre of dreams: the Polka Theatre is opening its doors to thousands more schoolchildren this year
Lynette Shanbury, Polka’s executive director, said, “Curtain Up! is one of our most vital and long-running funded programmes.
“We know that a child’s first experience of theatre is a formative and transformative experience, and we think every single child should have that opportunity.
“Prior to the pandemic we were able to offer 2,000 tickets per year through the programme – to be able to expand it now to 9,000 will have a huge impact for so many children. It is especially important at a time when school budgets are under so much pressure and arts in schools is being disastrously squeezed.
“Curtain Up! can only happen year on year thanks to the incredible backing of so many amazing supporters like The Garek Trust. We are very grateful to every single one of our supporters, without whom it wouldn’t exist.”
Read more: Polka’s early years theatre is planning for a festive autumn
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