Curtain Up!

Curtain-Up! is a subsidised ticket scheme that allows Polka to give free tickets to school groups who face barriers that make it harder to access live theatre.

A group of adults performing on stage holding instruments such as an acoustic guitar and accordion.

Polka is giving away a total of 9,000 school tickets this academic year!

The majority of the children that attend Curtain Up! shows have never been to the theatre before.

Curtain Up! has been running at Polka for 30 years and, in that time has enabled an estimated 76,000 children to attend the theatre. With special thanks to The Garek Trust, we are now able to give away 9,000 school tickets this academic year!

We aim to ensure that all children have access to live theatre to ensure a whole generation of children don’t miss out on these vital experiences.

Eligibility

Curtain Up! is open to state and special schools who meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • Have more than 30% of their students who are eligible for Pupil Premium Grant (PPG)
  • Have more than 40% of pupils for whom English is an additional language
  • Have a large number of children who have refugee status
  • Are a special school, or a SEN/ARP unit within a mainstream school, who face financial barriers to accessing theatre
  • Find it difficult to give their students opportunities to experience the arts

Participating schools receive:

  • Free tickets to a show for a class, year group or key stage
  • After-show talk with show creatives
  • Up to £200 subsidy for coach travel
  • Resources linking to the show to support continued creative learning in the classroom

How to apply

Applications for Curtain Up 25-26 are now closed. Applications for the 26-27 academic year will open in September.

To apply for Curtain Up! tickets, please fill out the application form below.

In order to complete the application form, you will need the following information:

  • The production you would like to see. You can find a full list of upcoming performances below.
  • The number of children and adults who will be in attendance.
  • The dates you are available to attend.

We will also ask you to provide the following approximate percentages:

  • Pupils eligible for PPG (Pupil Premium Grant) at your school.
  • Pupils for whom English is an additional language at your school.
  • Pupils with refugee status at your school.
  • Pupils from the Global Majority at your school.
  • Pupils who identify as Deaf, disabled or neurodivergent at your school.

Multiple Applications

You are welcome to apply for Curtain Up! as many times as you wish throughout the year. If you are unsuccessful in an application, we encourage you to apply again.

Hearing Back About Your Application

We endeavour to get back to schools as quickly as possible, however please be aware that we receive an extremely high number of Curtain Up! Applications. Some of our most popular productions have application deadlines. In these cases, no schools will be allocated seats until the application window has closed.

If you have any questions, or need any help completing your application, please contact us on [email protected]

Upcoming Curtain Up! Performances

Applications for Curtain Up! Performances in the 26-27 academic year will open in September.

We continue to announce Curtain Up! performances throughout the year. To stay in the loop, sign up to our mailing list and click ‘Schools’ as your preference.

Sign up to our newsletter

Access

We are committed to making Polka accessible and inclusive to everyone. If your group would benefit from a Relaxed, Captioned or BSL performance, please let us know. There may be additional access performance dates available outside of those listed below.

Got any questions about anything else? Contact our Creative Learning team and they’ll be happy to help!

Access at PolkaContact us
A full audience of adults and kids. The image is focused on a child with her hand in the air looking engaged with the performance, wearing a headpiece made of card.
“The students were absolutely blown away by how amazing the show was. About 70% of the students had never been to the theatre before and so it is fabulous to know that this experience has now been given to them hopefully to help encourage a further love of the arts. The whole theme and messages from the show about how to love yourself, promoting self esteem, positivity and being kind were excellent. The students loved the characters, the story and the singing. They have not stopped talking about this experience!”
“Absolutely faultless from start to finish. The staff, the booking, even dealing with us being a pain changing dates, everyone and everything was wonderful. We have never had such a smooth, welcoming and easy trip. Only 37 of our group of 76 had ever been to the theatre and you made it a memorable experience for all our newbie theatre goers.”
“I just wanted to thank you for our tickets yesterday. All the children had an utterly amazing time at the theatre, many had never been to the cinema let alone the theatre and some were even excited about their first train journey! They really engaged with the performance and got stuck into the Q&A as well. Please also thank your staff on the day who managed our large group so well and made us feel very welcome and accommodated. Wherever the funding source came from to allow us to give the children this experience it was very well spent, will have made a huge impact on our children and will be an opportunity they will treasure for a long time.”

With thanks to our Curtain Up! supporters:

The Garek Trust | The Chan Yin Chuen Memorial Foundation | The Ernest Hecht Charitable FoundationThe D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust | Enterprise Arts Trust | The Greenslade Family Foundation | Alf and Hilda Leivers Charity Trust | The TK Maxx & Homesense Foundation | Christina Smith Foundation | The Topinambour Trust | Unity Theatre Trust | Usborne Publishing Ltd | The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust