Autumn season 2026 auditions

Announcing auditions for actors for our autumn 2026 productions! We have two shows in autumn 2026, and you can audition for both:

The War Of The Worlds
Written by By Rhum + Clay and Isley Lynn
Directed by Phoebe Benson
Staged at Barons Court Theatre from 24 to 28 November 2026.
Audition notice

Super High Resolution
Written by Nathan Ellis
Directed by James Taverner
Staged at Drayton Arms Theatre from 1 to 5 December 2026.
Audition notice

Auditions are free and open to all. Please pick one of the dates to attend and read the audition notices carefully to prepare.

We have a maximum number of places to sign up for each evening – when we reach capacity, we will open a waiting list. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can allocate your place to someone else.

Don’t forget to fill out the audition form before you audition!

Dates: Monday 14 September or Thursday 17 September
Time: 6.45pm welcome and registration to ~10pm
Location: Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, Marylebone, London, NW8 8EH

Recalls by invitation are Saturday 19 September, 10am-2pm at Theatre Deli Crossharbour (6th Floor, 5 Greenwich View Place, London, E14 9NN).

If you’d like to hear the directors speak about their productions and ask them any questions, you can meet them at the KDC Autumn 2026 Season Launch on Wednesday 9 September 2026, 7pm upstairs at The Castle (44 Commercial Road, Aldgate, London E1 1LN). You can also talk to them about getting involved in other backstage ways.

To help us manage numbers, if you’re planning to come to our Season Launch, please RSVP at the link here.

The War Of The Worlds

KDC Theatre presents “The War Of The Worlds” by Rhum + Clay and Isley Lynn
Directed by Phoebe Benson

24-28 November 2026
Barons Court Theatre

TICKETS AVAILABLE SOON

About

The War of the Worlds follows Meena, a podcast journalist investigating the legacy of Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio broadcast, which caused some listeners to believe that an alien invasion was actually taking place.

The play moves between the 1938 broadcast and 2016 present day. Meena travels to Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, to investigate the story of Margaret, a woman whose family allegedly abandoned her for 24 hours after believing the broadcast was real. Margaret’s son, Nick, has grown up with this version of events and initially agrees to share his family’s story for Meena’s podcast.

However, as Meena investigates further with Margaret’s family, different versions of the truth begin to emerge, and a familiar truth is unravelling in front of her. 

The 1938 broadcast acts as a mirror for the modern world: people don’t necessarily believe something because it is true; they believe it because it is convincing, because someone they trust tells them, or because they desperately want to believe it.

Creative team:
Director: Phoebe Benson
Assistant Director: Aouda Ketrouci

Auditions

Please see our auditions page and the The War Of The Worlds audition notice for more information about auditioning for the play.

Auditions are free and open to all. Please pick one of the dates to attend and read the audition notices carefully to prepare.

Don’t forget to fill out the audition form before you audition!

Dates: Monday 14 September or Thursday 17 September 2026
Time: 6.45pm welcome and registration to ~10pm
Location: Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, Marylebone, London, NW8 8EH

Recalls by invitation are Saturday 19 September 2026, 10am-2pm at Theatre Deli Crossharbour (6th Floor, 5 Greenwich View Place, London, E14 9NN).

If you’d like to hear the directors speak about their productions and ask them any questions, you can meet them at the KDC Autumn 2026 Season Launch on Wednesday 9 September 2026, 7pm upstairs at The Castle (44 Commercial Road, Aldgate, London E1 1LN). You can also talk to them about getting involved in other backstage ways.

To help us manage numbers, if you’re planning to come to our Season Launch, please RSVP at the link here.

Super High Resolution

KDC Theatre presents “Super High Resolution” by Nathan Ellis
Directed by James Taverner

1-5 December 2026
Drayton Arms Theatre

TICKETS AVAILABLE SOON

About

I like being a doctor but I’m slowly growing to hate the sight of sick people.

Being a doctor is a really good job and you get to save lives and help people, so Anna is determined not to quit. But when her patient runs out on her, and her personal life starts to spiral, she’s not sure how much more she can take.

Super High Resolution is a play about being a doctor in the modern NHS and the limits of anyone’s ability to care for other people.

The main character, NHS A&E doctor Anna, is on stage the whole play – she tries to leave the stage but is propelled from scene to scene as other characters jump in and out. The play accelerates – from the comic opening scene where Anna has to deal with a drunken hospital visitor, to other scenes with her manipulative boss, her feisty older sister, her cynical stepniece, a suicidal patient, and a potential new romance – juggling all these dynamics with the pressure building until Anna snaps. The play is fast-paced, darkly funny, and moving, and shines a light on the strength of NHS staff and the challenges they face.

Creative team:
Director: James Taverner
Assistant Director: Elisa Suanli Benham
Lighting Designer: Alexander Kampmann
Intimacy Coordinator: Romain Mereau

Auditions

Please see our auditions page and the Super High Resolution audition notice for more information about auditioning for the play.

Auditions are free and open to all. Please pick one of the dates to attend and read the audition notices carefully to prepare.

Don’t forget to fill out the audition form before you audition!

Dates: Monday 14 September or Thursday 17 September 2026
Time: 6.45pm welcome and registration to ~10pm
Location: Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, Marylebone, London, NW8 8EH

Recalls by invitation are Saturday 19 September 2026, 10am-2pm at Theatre Deli Crossharbour (6th Floor, 5 Greenwich View Place, London, E14 9NN).

If you’d like to hear the directors speak about their productions and ask them any questions, you can meet them at the KDC Autumn 2026 Season Launch on Wednesday 9 September 2026, 7pm upstairs at The Castle (44 Commercial Road, Aldgate, London E1 1LN). You can also talk to them about getting involved in other backstage ways.

To help us manage numbers, if you’re planning to come to our Season Launch, please RSVP at the link here.

Join us for the 2026 AGM and wrap party!

As we end another year of brilliant plays, workshops, scratch nights and more, join us for the chance to celebrate and raise a glass to the brilliant directors, cast, crew, producers, workshop leaders and showrunners who have made it all possible!

It’s also the time of year for our AGM, where we vote in the trustees and committee members for the year ahead. Read down for the formal AGM notice.

We’ll be in the top room of the Castle pub, in Aldgate East, from 7pm (with the formal AGM 7:30-8:30pm) til late on Wednesday 5 August.

We’d love to see you there, and to help us manage space please RSVP to let us know if you can join us!

Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/aBHJ1NcE5VwQZj7p9

Notice of the KDC AGM 2026

NOTICE IS GIVEN that an Annual General Meeting of KDC Theatre will be at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5 August 2026, held at The Castle Pub, 44 Commercial Rd, Aldgate, London E1 1LN, to transact the following business:

AGENDA

  1. Reports and accounts
    1. Introduction and verbal report from the Chair, Helen Dickens.
    2. Verbal report from the Artistic Director, Stephen Reimer.
    3. Verbal report from the Treasurer, Hugo Wilson, alongside the accounts for the year ending 31 July 2026.
  1. Member proposed resolutions

Details of any proposed resolutions will be made available. Proposed resolutions should be sent to the Chair by 11pm on 3 August 2026. If applicable, a revised agenda will be issued prior to the AGM. 

NB. Proposed resolutions may be submitted by full members of KDC by emailing helen@kdctheatre.com with the subject line “Proposed Resolution”.  Find out who is a full KDC member here.

  1. Appointment of charity trustees

Nominations are required for the following trustee roles: Chair, Artistic Director, Treasurer, Operations Director. 

Nominations for all trustees must be received by 11pm on 3 August 2026. 

NB Details of how to make a nomination are available from the KDC website (click here).

  1. Appointment of non-trustees to specified roles to assist in the running of the charity

Nominations of non-trustees to specified roles to assist in the running of the charity must be received by 11pm on 3 August 2026. 

NB Details of how to make a nomination are available from the KDC website (click here).

  1. Any other business

To deal with any matters raised at the meeting.

On behalf of the Board of charity trustees,

Helen Dickens

Chair

KDC Theatre

Memoria: A double bill of one-act plays

KDC Theatre presents “Memoria”, a double bill show of one-act plays:

“The Anniversary” by Anton Chekhov, directed by Lucy Harper
“The Hut” by Iain Prest, directed by Diana Kessler

30 June-4 July 2026
Arches Lane Theatre
8 Arches Ln, Nine Elms, London SW11 8AB

TICKETS HERE

click here for programme

About

Money. Property. Memory. Progress.

KDC Theatre presents two sharply observed plays about institutions under pressure.

In The Hut, a village fights to save its Scout hut from demolition as old attachments and new ambitions collide.

In The Anniversary, a bank celebrates its success on the eve of the financial crash, where confidence quickly descends into comic chaos.

Funny, poignant and unexpectedly connected, this double bill asks what happens when the things we build—financial institutions, public spaces, even our own identities—prove less secure than we imagine.

The Hut

Can a hut be a home? According to Alec: no. That’s why he’s fighting his local council’s attempt to demolish the Scout Hut in his village and turn it into flats. Hannah is a lawyer from out of town who doesn’t care about the hut and doesn’t care about the flats. She just needs to smooth the path for the property developer so she can get married to Pete and live the life she’s been dreaming of ever since they met at uni. Except Pete isn’t so sure that’s the future he wants for himself. And when Alec’s old friend and first love turns up in the village after 20 years, suddenly Alec is forced to rethink his view of the past.

“The Hut” explores what it means to be rooted in a place vs being stuck: stuck in a town, a relationship, a job. It’s about learning to walk the line between holding on to memories and freeing ourselves from ideas about who we think we are.

And trees. It’s about trees.

Cast:
Alec: Felix Fabiny
Hannah: Caity O’Meara
Stephen: Vinny Williams
Vicky: Aoife Spengeman
Mrs Ibbotson: Fiona Spencer
Pete: Theo Savvides

Creative team:
Director: Diana Kessler

The anniversary

A respectable bank.
An important anniversary.
Everything must go smoothly!

As the chairman prepares a grand speech to celebrate the bank’s success, interruptions begin to pile up: a nervous clerk with his meticulously prepared report, a persistent wife demanding justice, and a series of increasingly absurd misunderstandings.

What begins as a formal occasion quickly spirals into chaos. The Anniversary is a sharp, fast-paced farce about pride, bureaucracy, and the fragility of social order. Beneath the comedy lies a satire of status, self-importance, and the desperate need to be heard.

Cast:
Shipuchin: Andy Fraser
Hirin: Sarmed Hyder
Mertchutkin: Ingrid Miller
Tatyana: Olivia Haart

Creative team:
Director: Lucy Harper

Content warning: Features mild drug use

KDC Theatre’s Finishing School for Writers

Are you a playwright with an idea for a new work, looking for that final push? Then come get the support you need at KDC’s Finishing School for Writers!

This 7-week workshop series will give you fun and focused exercises, peer support, weekly critique and access to directors and actors, all to help you work towards a full first draft or even final version of your script. After completing this course, you can pitch your script to KDC’s Autumn Scratch Night and see it staged.

Interested? Here’s what you need to know…
When: Sat 13th June to Sat 25th July, 3-6pm
Where: Central locations tbc for each workshop
Cost: £30 KDC membership (lasts for the year) + £55 workshop fee

We have up to 8 spaces on the workshop. If you would like to apply, please email anna@kdctheatre.com with:

  • a short synopsis of your play
  • a 1-2 scene extract of what you’ve written so far

    Deadline to apply: Saturday 6th June

Anna will be running the course. She is an experienced director, co-writer of the devised piece Snatch & Merkin and a showrunner for KDC’s previous new writing programme Fullstack. You can also contact her for more information or if you are keen but can’t make Saturday afternoons.

Stepping Into Directing workshop May 2026

What does a director actually do?
How do they pick and research a play, run auditions and plan rehearsals?
What does it mean to direct a show for KDC, or elsewhere?

This masterclass will offer budding directors practical skills and approaches to the art of directing for the stage. Come along to hear Stephen Reimer (Artistic Director of KDC Theatre and director of KDC’s “W;t” and “The Bus”) and Saskia van ‘t Hoff (director of KDC shows including “Kill Local”, “13”, and “Chatroom”) take you step-by-step through the journey from creative vision to opening night. Experienced directors interested in brushing up on their skills and/or learning more about directing for KDC are also welcomed to attend.

Spaces are limited so book now! Please book your slot HERE.

There will also be optional drinks afterwards in the Theatre Deli bar where prospective directors and assistant directors can mingle, meet the KDC team and informally discuss potential show pitches.

Date: Wed 13 May 2026
Time: 7-9pm
Location: Theatre Deli, Leadenhall
Tickets: £15 / £13.50 for KDC members

Summer season 2026 auditions

Announcing auditions for actors for our summer 2026 production! This year we are producing a double bill show of one-act plays to be staged at Arches Lane Theatre (8 Arches Ln, Nine Elms, London SW11 8AB) from 30 June to 4 July 2026:

The Anniversary
By Anton Chekhov
Directed by Lucy Harper
Audition notice

The Hut
By Iain Prest
Directed by Diana Kessler
Audition notice

Auditions are free and open to all and you can audition for one or both plays on the same night. Please pick one of the dates to attend and read the audition notices carefully to prepare.

Don’t forget to fill out the audition form before you audition!

Dates: Monday 27 April or Wednesday 29 April
Time: 6.45pm welcome and registration to ~10pm
Location: Theatre Deli, 107 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3A 4AF

Recalls by invitation are Saturday 2 May, 10am-2pm at Theatre Deli.

We look forward to seeing you at auditions soon!

The Golden Dragon

KDC Theatre presents “The Golden Dragon” by Roland Schimmelpfennig and translated by David Tushingham
Directed by Alexander Kampmann

14-18 April 2026
Drayton Arms Theatre

BUY TICKETS HERE

About

Five cooks in the small kitchen of The Golden Dragon.
They are immigrants.
They are illegal.
They have no papers. 

And while they struggle in the kitchen, the people around them have no idea what is happening: The grandfather, his granddaughter, her boy friend, the man in the striped shirt, all of them have their own hardship, hidden behind the doors of their apartments. And the shopkeeper, Hans, really has something to hide.

The Golden Dragon is a play about anonymity in big cities, the neighbours we hardly know. About the people who don’t even exist on paper. A play about the misery hidden under the surface.

Cast:
The Young Man: Ethan Solanki
The Young Woman: Carolina Penco Salvi
The Man: Max Orel
The Man Over Sixty: Clovis Parker-Jervis
The Woman Over Sixty: Jenni Wredden

Creative team:
Director: Alexander Kampmann
Assistant Director: Azul Alysum

DOwnload programme

Pitches now open for our Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027 seasons

Open call for pitches

With our Spring 2026 Season shows debuting soon and exciting plans for the Summer, it’s time to set our eyes to Autumn 2026 and beyond!

Pitches are currently OPEN. We are looking to programme shows for Autumn 2026 (auditions in September 2026, shows in November/December 2026) and Spring 2027 (auditions in January, shows in March/April). We open our books for pitches a few times a year, to plan the next few seasons of shows. This is usually 6-8 months before each show.

There is no set theme to follow, we just really want to see your passion for your chosen project come through in your pitch. All the details about what we’re looking for, what support you’ll get from KDC Theatre, and how to submit your pitch can be found on our Directing with KDC page.