Closing date: 10th November 2024 at 5pm
Salary: £550/week for 5 weeks total
Contract: Fixed term role, freelance contract
Interviews: Thursday 14th November
Start date: w/c 2 December 2024 with 2.5 days remote work beforehand
End date: 16 January plus 3 production visits between 16 January and 3 May
Location: London
Are you passionate about theatre, costume design, and eager to make your mark in the world of stage production? Gain hands-on experience in costume and wardrobe for an exciting West End production in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company. No professional experience required - just your passion, creativity, and drive!
Good Chance are offering a unique training and development opportunity for an individual passionate about theatre and costume, from a refugee or asylum-seeking background, to work at the heart of our exciting production Kyoto as it transfers into the West End. The Costume Trainee will work closely with the Costume Designer, Natalie Pryce, as well as the Costume Supervisor, and the Wardrobe team from rehearsals through to the opening of the production.
This is an exciting opportunity to be embedded in the creative process with the Costume team, as they transfer the production to London including costuming new cast members. The Costume Trainee will support the Costume team throughout rehearsals, by assisting with fittings, ordering, sourcing, organising costumes, liaising with producers and production team and other duties as required.
They will gain first-hand knowledge of the design process during rehearsals, through working with the Costume Designer, and then knowledge of the Wardrobe Running process during previews, through working with the Costume Supervisor and Wardrobe team. The successful candidate will be mentored throughout the process, develop their costume and wardrobe skills and experience and make new industry contacts.
This fixed term trainee role is being recruited by Good Chance to be managed in-house and will be embedded into the rehearsal process, working with Good Chance and the RSC. This role is specifically aimed at candidates with a refugee or asylum-seeking background with lived experience of displacement. We're interested in hearing from candidates with a passion for theatre, costume or fashion; no professional experience required. The role will involve working in London across 5 weeks, so is open to candidates based in Greater London only.
Responsibilities
This is a training role that will be tailored to the successful candidate and their experience and interest, with mentoring throughout.
Responsibilities may include:
- Supporting the costume team with any duties as required through the course of rehearsals, technical rehearsals and previews.
- Assisting with fittings
- Organising costumes
- Assisting with ordering and sourcing
- Liaising with production team members including Stage Management team
- Liaising with producers about important production developments
Knowledge, skills and experience
- Passion for costume or fashion; this could be evidenced by non-professional experience of sewing, making, designing, styling etc
- Passion for theatre
- Commitment to the values of Good Chance
- Interest in developing their costume skills further
- Confident spoken English with the ability to communicate with a wide variety of people including team members in person and suppliers over the phone
Additional information
- This role is open to creatives from a refugee or asylum-seeking background with lived experience of displacement
- Fixed term role, freelance contract
- Start date: w/c 2 December 2024 with 2.5 days remote work beforehand
- End date: 16 January plus 3 production visits between 16 January and 3 May
- Time commitment: part-time from 25 November - 4 January, full time from 6 January - 16 January, three days to visit the production from 17 January - 3 May
- £550/week for 5 weeks total
- Looking for candidates based in London
Interviews will be held in person in London or on zoom on Thursday 14th November. If you are not able to attend this date please let us know when you apply.
About Good Chance and The Royal Shakespeare Company
Good Chance is a dynamic theatre company co-creating ground-breaking, heart-thumping, highly relevant "theatre that shakes hands with the world" (Sunday Times). We use the power of theatre to change lives and change minds. With displaced artists centre stage, we bring people together through theatre and art to create surprising stories that spark new conversations and encourage action on complex urgent issues of our time; migration, climate crisis and polarisation. Recent award-winning productions include The Jungle, about the refugee camp in Calais, which has toured the world, The Walk with Little Amal, a major participatory public artwork which travelled from Turkey to the UK in 2021 and From Here On, an international physical theatre production about displacement featuring local young people. We have delivered 550 events globally in the eight years since our inception, reached 1.1 million audience members and people taking part and given paid employment and training opportunities to over 750 artists, most with lived experience of displacement and migration.
The Royal Shakespeare Company create world class theatre, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. The RSC perform plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning a wide range of original work from contemporary writers, with a purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare is for everyone, unlocking the power of his plays and live performance, throughout the UK and across the world.
Kyoto is an RSC, Good Chance, Rachel Styne & Jessica Foung production, by arrangement with Nica Burns.
How to apply
Click the 'Apply' button for more information on the role and how to apply. Applications should be sent by Sunday 10th November at 5pm with attachments of:
- A one-page letter or a 2-3 minute video explaining who you are, why you are interested in the role and how you meet the requirements
- Your CV - please be aware that professional experience or academic qualifications are not required for this role, but we're interested to see any work or studying you have done, any skills or other experience you have and your interests to get more of a sense of who you are
- A completed equal opportunities form
Good Chance is committed to widening access and to equality of opportunity for all staff and freelancers. Applications for this role are open to individuals with lived experience of displacement or migration from a refugee or asylum seeking background.
If you have any questions about this role, need this information in a different format, or have any access requirements for application or interview, please contact us by email on
Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.