School for Wise Children: Pick and Mix

Our theatre company Wise Children was founded by Emma Rice to create world-class ensemble-led productions. Our shows are full of comedy, tragedy, music and movement and we send our tight-knit companies all over the world to perform. Wuthering Heights has just toured the UK and the USA, has played in Amsterdam and has more venues in the pipeline for next year. Our new show, Blue Beard, goes into rehearsals at the start of next year and there are a few other shows in development too. For a small theatre company, we keep ourselves busy!

Alongside our productions, we run a professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, which I take the creative lead on. The school is our way to train and mentor the next generation of theatre makers. We run free, open-call, performers workshops and free online courses for creatives and producers. It also provides a way for us to find new creatives, performers and backstage staff for our shows. The idea of the Pick and Mix grew out of conversations with multiple drama schools. We thought that our School for Wise Children and its specific type of multi-disciplinary, ensemble-based, training could offer something unique to drama schools and a collaboration would also give us a chance to meet potential ensemble members.