Born in the age of COVID-19, Festoon Theatre Company saw a need in the Non-Professional Theatre world for a company that focussed on diverse and non traditional casting, smaller casts and shows that don’t get performed very often. To complement this we also wanted to perform at new and unconventional venues in London.
The founders have over 40 years combined experience in amateur theatre, both performing in and producing many musicals in multiple venues.
Festoon Theatre Company are dedicated to producing innovative and high quality shows with diverse casting choices and bringing them to London audiences.
We formed Festoon Theatre Company with the aim of having a majority casts of at least 50% people of colour. When we say people of colour we mean Black, brown and East Asian descent actors*, who woudn’t normally be considered for leading roles in musicals.
In an industry where non white people make up 40% of West End Casts (31.7% Black, 2.6% South Asian, 1.1% East Asian, 2.2% Other Ethnicity)**, and a much smaller representation in Amateur Dramatics, we want to try to readdress this imbalance. Visual representation for our casts is at the heart of what we do. We want to give people who wouldn’t see themselves in leading roles that chance and are committed to fulfilling this in every single one of our productions.
*This list isn’t exhaustive, and if you would like to talk to us about further about this then do email us
** Data from The Stage
