Polka Theatre Will Celebrate 30 Years of Curtain Up! Programme With 9,000 Free School Tickets Available
For many children attending these performances at the Merton venue – dedicated to 0–12-year-olds – it provides their first ever theatre experience.
By: Stephi Wild Jul. 30, 2025
Polka Theatre is celebrating 30 years of its Curtain-Up! programme – a pioneering subsidised ticket scheme that offers free tickets to school groups facing barriers to accessing live theatre. For many children attending these performances at the Merton venue – dedicated to 0–12-year-olds – it provides their first ever theatre experience.
Launched in 1994 with support from The Vivien Duffield Foundation, Curtain Up! was one of the first audience development schemes of its kind. Since its inception, it has enabled Polka to distribute over 76,000 free tickets to schools across more than 20 boroughs in London, Surrey and Essex – reaching thousands of children who might otherwise never experience the joy of live performance.
The scheme has grown in response to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and school budget cuts, as many schools continue to face financial, staffing and logistical challenges in organising trips to the theatre. When Polka reopened in 2021 following its major redevelopment, Curtain Up! expanded to offer 4,000 free tickets annually. That number rose to 6,000 in subsequent years due to increased demand and need. In 2024, the scheme expanded further to an annual 9,000 free tickets thanks to the generous support of The Garek Trust and other ongoing supporters — and now, for its 30th anniversary year, the scheme will continue to provide 9,000 free tickets for academic year 2025-26.
Lynette Shanbury, Executive Director at Polka said, “A positive experience for a young child will set the tone for their relationship with theatre for the rest of their life – that fact hasn't changed in 30 years! Polka has led the way in children's theatre for decades – we were the first to pioneer this kind of scale of free theatre tickets for schools, the first to introduce what are now widely known as Relaxed Performances, and the first to expansively offer work for the very youngest. It is urgent that we keep finding ways to bring theatre into children's lives – schools are the perfect partners to make this possible, so we need to find a way to work together to give children this opportunity. Otherwise, we are going to see generations of children grow up without creative confidence, without vital life-skills and without even knowing that theatre can be part of their lives.”
Polly Simmonds, Head of Creative Learning at Polka said, "Theatre has a transformative and lasting impact on children's lives. We know the incredible change theatre can make to children's wellbeing, their ambitions and their futures. Schools are struggling financially and organisationally to bring children to the theatre, so through Curtain Up! we remove the financial barrier.
Celebrating 30 years of the scheme is an incredible achievement and we are so pleased to be able to give away a further 9,000 free tickets over the next academic year. Enabling children to attend the theatre, often for the very first time, is integral to Polka's mission - empowering children to navigate their world through inspirational theatre and creative experiences. "
In addition to free theatre tickets, schools who attend Polka under the scheme can also receive a travel subsidy, as well as an exclusive post-show Q&A session with the show creatives, plus resources connecting to the themes of the show to continue their learning in the classroom. Last year's Curtain Up! Schools had the following average statistics:
- 42.2% Free School Meals (average UK 25.7%)
- 51.3% English as an Additional Language (average UK 20.5%)
- 60.8% Global Majority backgrounds (average UK 38%)
More information in the Curtain Up! scheme can be found here.
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