Seven Dials Playhouse Announces 2026 Recipients of first steps and Next Step Artist Initiatives

Seven Dials Playhouse has announced the first cohort of 2026 recipients for first steps and Next Step, two artist development initiatives launched last year as part of its expanded commitment to supporting theatre-makers at all stages of their careers.

The funded programmes offer artists time, space and financial support to explore bold ideas, develop work-in-progress and build connections within the industry. The selected projects span speculative and interdisciplinary theatre, new musical work, drag and cabaret, and archive-led performance, engaging themes of queer and marginalised histories, identity, community, education, power and resistance.

About the programmes

first steps and Next Step form part of Seven Dials Playhouse’s wider artist development strand and are designed to ease some of the financial and logistical pressures faced by theatre-makers. The initiatives support artists both at the beginning of their careers and at moments where focused, paid development time is essential.

The programmes reflect the organisation’s values-led approach to artistic support, offering paid development time at Equity minimum rates while platforming distinctive voices and encouraging sustainable creative careers.

Katie Pesskin, Creative Director of Seven Dials Playhouse, said:

“As we welcome the second cohort of first steps and Next Step recipients, we’re excited to continue supporting artists at moments where time, space and paid development can help their ideas move forward. These creatives are asking urgent, imaginative questions about history, identity and community, and we’re proud to be offering a platform for their projects to be explored, tested and shared as they take their next steps.”

Reflecting on the impact of the initiatives, previous participants highlighted the importance of being resourced and trusted. Taylor Ayling, part of Defenestration in the 2025 first steps cohort, described the programme as being about more than developing a show, but about being seen and having permission to tell stories on their own terms. Cal-I Jonel, whose work There’s a Mouse in the Kitchen took part in Next Step 2025, described the support as giving their work the momentum needed to move forward.

first steps

first steps offers groups of up to five theatre-makers a funded week of creative exploration, including free rehearsal space and paid development time at Equity minimum rates. The 2026 recipients are:

Alone, Alone and Everywhere

A multi-disciplinary, speculative theatre project exploring the legacy of occultist illustrator and “mother of tarot” Pamela Colman Smith, alongside other Black, queer Victorians whose histories have been obscured.

Using Smith’s tarot illustrations as a starting point, the research and development process brings her world into contact with modern-day queer characters, opening a dialogue across time about hidden pasts, possible futures and the desire to reclaim erased histories.

Written by actor and writer Mei Alozie, whose work centres speculative histories and Black, queer narratives, Alone, Alone and Everywhere is her debut play. The project is directed by Micky McDevitt, a multi-disciplinary director and performer working across surrealism, punk aesthetics and high-concept performance. The wider creative team includes Hannah Balogan, Phaedra Leigh and Rẹmi Shorunke-Samuel.

House Girl Duties

Written by Emily Olum, House Girl Duties is an interdisciplinary new musical following a 16-year-old British-Ugandan girl who immaculately conceives. Combining original gospel music, humour and audience interaction, the work explores eldest-daughter expectations, cultural pressure and the experience of growing up as a young Black girl in the UK.

The project is developed by No Table Productions, an award-winning company led by Co-Artistic Directors Montel Douglas and Nora Lempriere, alongside associate artists Emily Olum and Harmony Daniel. The company focuses on telling personal stories that speak to wider structural issues through lived experience.

The Tears of Rod Hudston / El Gran Varón

A performance-in-development rooted in testimonies, archives and texts gathered through workshops with migrant communities living with HIV, this project is developed by the Living Museum of HIV collective.

The residency functions as a process-led laboratory, moving from research materials towards a devised performance through verbatim fragments, movement-led dramaturgy and image-based composition. The work centres collective memory as a means of reclaiming queer histories and challenges stigma through humour, tenderness and political clarity.

Living Museum of HIV is a London-based interdisciplinary platform created and directed by Diego Agurto Beroiza, developing radical performance and archival projects with migrant communities around HIV through ethical, multilingual and community-led collaboration. The collaborating team includes Eduardo Arcelus, Emilia Cadenasso and Nikita De Martin.

Next Step

Next Step supports theatre-makers who are ready to shape their work for the stage. The programme offers a week of paid development at Equity minimum rates, rehearsal space and a work-in-progress sharing for industry professionals. The first 2026 recipients are:

Clown Clown Baby

Three teenagers sign up too late for compulsory after-school clubs and find themselves in the only option left: Finding Your Clown. As unexpected bonds form, a parental campaign against one student and her drag king alter ego, Al Dente, threatens to dismantle the group entirely.

Part play, part cabaret, Clown Clown Baby is a bold exploration of queerness, education and the pressure to conform. The work is written by Gemma Lawrence, whose debut play Sunnymead Court was nominated for an OFFIE Award, and directed by Emily Aboud, recipient of the Evening Standard Future Theatre Award.

Hatie Kopkins

A high-camp drag cabaret biography of Britain’s most notorious professional provocateur, Hatie Kopkins examines the creation of a media monster and the harm caused when disability and vulnerability are framed as shame.

Blending musical satire with pantomime villainy, the work critiques reactionary media, bootstrap bravado and the mechanics of outrage. The project brings together an all-drag creative team including playwright Aiden Strickland, aerialist and Next Drag Superstar winner Daisy Horan, director Steffi Walker and movement artist Isidro Ridout.

New work by Isabella Leung

This interdisciplinary theatre project brings together an all-female creative team to explore East and Southeast Asian female identity through absurdism. The work examines the psychophysical effects of exoticisation under the white male gaze, connecting symbolic worlds with lived experience to confront questions of race, migration, politics and shared humanity.

The project is created by Isabella Leung, an independent theatre artist with Hong Kong roots. Her previous work includes A Bouffon Play About Hong Kong, a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting. She collaborates with director Kim Pearce, actor and interdisciplinary artist Vinna Law, Japanese circus artist and butoh dancer Rika Fujimoto, and performer Sara Chia-Jewell.

About Seven Dials Playhouse

Based in the heart of the West End, Seven Dials Playhouse supports theatre-makers and performers at all stages of their careers while presenting innovative live performance for diverse audiences. The organisation’s vision is for a UK theatre industry that reflects a wide range of stories and voices, and is understood, valued and needed.

Seven Dials Playhouse delivers year-round professional development opportunities for artists, alongside a public performance programme and initiatives designed to support the artists and audiences of the future.

Seven Dials Playhouse, 1A Tower St, London WC2H 9NP

https://www.sevendialsplayhouse.co.uk/