Casting Policy

At Hopscotch Theatre Company we believe in introducing children to the highest quality theatre and performance. To achieve this, we seek passionate and talented artists from across Scotland who have a passion for creating theatre for children and family audiences. In line with our vision ‘for a future where every child and young person across Scotland, feels inspired by and included within a thriving creative community’ we are committed to finding the most suitable and talented cast members, prioritising Scottish-based performers and actively supporting emerging creatives in their career development, both within Scotland and beyond. Our commitment extends to creating a vibrant and diverse artistic community that truly reflects the children and families we serve.

Hopscotch Theatre Company is deeply committed to actively including artists from diverse backgrounds and cultures in all its projects, whether productions or outreach. This commitment covers, but isn’t limited to, artists of all sexes, genders, marital or civil partnership statuses, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, races (including ethnic origin, colour, nationality, and national origin), disabilities, sexual orientations, religions and beliefs, ages, and those from both drama school and non-drama school training pathways. When casting for a role that is culturally specific or written with specific personal characteristics, we are committed to first casting a performer from that culture or with those characteristics. For all other roles, we actively consider artists from diverse backgrounds for every part, ensuring our casts reflect the rich tapestry of our society.

Our ongoing commitment is to continuously diversify our casts, building upon the progress we have made in recent years. Our ongoing aim is to ensure children consistently see themselves authentically reflected in the stories and work we share, by actively increasing and sustaining the representation of performers with protected characteristics.

We operate an inclusive approach to the casting of all roles, prioritising accessibility throughout the process. We will ensure that casting sessions take place at fully accessible venues whenever possible. If an audition or rehearsal is held at our studio in Govan, we are committed to proactively arranging any necessary access provisions to ensure all artists can participate comfortably. 

We hold ourselves accountable for diversifying our workforce and are committed to becoming an anti-racist organisation. We aim to identify, acknowledge and actively work to eradicate systemic racism within Hopscotch Theatre Company and will proactively seek opportunities to engage with others on anti-racism initiatives. We believe that being accountable, open to questioning and willing to learn from mistakes is fundamental to effective leadership. We stand in solidarity with all those peacefully advocating for change and hear the demands from our staff, artists, colleagues, stakeholders and the wider community. We will seek external guidance on how we can better our recruitment processes, what succession plans or programmes we can put in place to enable more people of colour to rise to leadership positions within our company, further enriching our artistic vision and company culture.

All performers who are offered paid work at the Company are asked to complete an anonymous diversity monitoring form to help us monitor our progress.

AUDITIONS

Our casting process is led by the director of each production, in collaboration with the producer and the wider artistic team at Hopscotch Theatre Company.

We are committed to transparent and wide-reaching advertising of all our casting requirements. Opportunities are consistently shared on our website, social media channels, and through key industry representatives like Creative Scotland. Comprehensive breakdowns are also distributed to all Scottish agents. When seeking more specialised talent, we proactively engage with our extensive network of peers, particularly those dedicated to producing high-quality theatre for children, to ensure we attract the most appropriate and diverse artists.

GETTING IN TOUCH

We encourage artists, performers and actors to get in touch and keep us informed with a sample of your work, CV and headshot. We regularly update our information so we encourage you to keep us up to date. We are more than happy to arrange a meeting at our office if you have a specific request or would benefit from meeting the team. Please contact Thomas at info@hopscotchtheatre.com.

We also regularly attend shows throughout Scotland and occasionally elsewhere. If you are working on something and want us to drop by please let us know and we can arrange this. We are keen to see and meet performers and have an in-depth, current working knowledge of the industry.

CONTACT

The preferred method of contact is via email to either info@hopscotchtheatre.com or by phone on 0141 440 2025.

When writing you should include your Spotlight link (if you are on Spotlight), and a headshot and CV under 1MB in size if not.