Every Show Takes a Crowd
For every person on stage there are several more making it happen — building, painting, sewing, hauling, welcoming. You don't need experience, and you certainly don't need to act.
Theatrecraft has been staging shows here since 1948, and almost all of it is done by people who simply turned up one day and offered to help. Nobody arrives knowing how to build a flat or paint a backdrop — you learn it standing next to someone who did the same thing last year.
Come for an afternoon and see what you think. There's no audition for this, no commitment beyond the day, and no expectation that you'll know what you're doing. Bring old clothes.
Say HelloSawing, screwing, measuring, and turning a pile of timber into somewhere a story can happen. If you can hold a drill you're already qualified, and if you can't, someone will show you. This is where most of our sets are born — and where a fair bit of tea gets drunk.
Big brushes, bigger surfaces. Painting flats, mixing colours, blocking in a backdrop. You do not need to be an artist — most of it is filling in shapes and keeping the edges tidy, and it is oddly relaxing.
Moving scenery in the dark, setting props, cueing people on. It's the job with the best view in the house and the most adrenaline. Perfect if you love the theatre but have no wish whatsoever to be looked at.
Sewing, altering, sourcing, and the running repairs that happen five minutes before curtain up. Whether you can make a ballgown from scratch or just take up a hem, there is always more to do than there are hands.
Welcoming the audience, selling programmes and raffle tickets, marshalling the car park, and being the friendly face people meet first. A great way in if you'd like to help but can't commit to weeks of rehearsal.
Not sure where you'd fit? Come to a work day and have a look around — that's how most of us started.
Sunday 6 September 2026 · 1–3pm
A big workshop clear-out — sorting the sets, props and scenery of shows gone by, deciding what's worth keeping and what's off to the tip. An easy first visit: no skills needed, and chips on the beach afterwards.
See the detailsSeptember 2026 onwards
Our January pantomime needs a set, costumes, crew and front of house as much as it needs a cast. Read-through Friday 18 September, auditions Tuesday 22 and Friday 25 September — and the set build runs through the autumn.
About the showDrop us a line and say what you'd like to try — or that you've no idea and we'll find you something.
Email Theatrecraft