Volunteer With Us

Do you want to work with an organisation that’s building a new future for local people? Are you excited about working with a diverse and eclectic group of residents in one of London’s most iconic boroughs? 

Our volunteers help us deliver our programme of free community events for people living on and around Kings Crescent Estate.

We have a range of roles available, such as:

  • Serving food and chatting with residents at our over 60s Friday Lunch Club
  • Helping children develop a love of literature and music at our Kids Library Club and Soft Play Disco
  • Helping out at large community events such as our Summer Street Party

If you want to get involved, there will be a role for you! All of our volunteers receive training and £15 per day in expenses. We require all staff and volunteers to be DBS checked.

Interested in getting involved or want to find out more? Drop a line to ruan@hackneyshowroom.com

Kids Story Club

Tuesdays (term-time only) | 3.30-5.30pm | FREE

The world is a varied and colourful place and children deserve to see themselves reflected in the stories we tell. At our weekly Kids Story Club for 0-13s children can dive into our magical, inclusive kids library.

Come and bring your kids to lounge on squishy bean bags, explore 100s of beautiful books, enjoy snacks and get stuck into a book-themed craft activity.

Monthly Guest Artist Indira Toussaint: 5 May | 2 June | 2 July | FREE

Join Indira for a monthly story workshop where she will dive into a book with you and your children and bring it to life. Indira’s sessions are interactive and responsive and children of all ages are invited to contribute, building confidence in their ideas and how they express them.

Indira is a poet, educator and youth practitioner whose work sits at the intersection of culture, language and storytelling. As co-founder of Twossaints, she creates spaces for young people to explore their imagination and self expression through creative practice.

No booking needed — just turn up. 

Friday Lunch Club

Fridays | 12pm-2pm  | FREE

  • Group of elders having lunch around a large table in Hackney Showroom

Welcome to the legendary Friday Lunch Club. Join us for a delicious, hearty, freshly cooked three course meal, served with a side of bingo, a generous glass of gossip and finished off with the occasional post-lunch dance.

We’re always interested to her from local residents who would like to help out at Friday Lunch Club. All volunteers receive expenses and training. Please see our VOLUNTEERING page for more info.

There’s no pre-booking required to join Friday Lunch Club. For more information please call: 020 3095 9747

Kings Crescent Street Party & Dog Show

4 June | 2-8pm | Murrain Road 

Get ready for a family day like no other! Hosted by pioneering theatre mavericks Nigel Barrett & Louise Mari + special guest dog hypnotist Guy Hargreaves.

From a Squeaky Toy Orchestra to Portrait with your Pooch, a bouncy castle, bar & food, DJs, puppy face painting, ice cream & more. We’ve got everything to help you celebrate the beginning of summer!

4pm Main Stage: ‘Alternative Dog Show’ with categories including: Dog That Looks Most Like The Queen, Best Beard & Fastest Sausage Eater.

Paws mean Prizes!

This event is FREE and is for Kings Crescent residents, surrounding neighbours and friends of Hackney Showroom. Book below for yourself and/or your household to let us know you are coming. As always donations are greatly welcomed and help us to keep events like this free.

Would you like to trade at the street party? Whether you’re selling your own designs, delicious treats or bric-a-brac/jumble, complete the registration form below and for £5 you can host a stall at the Street Party. Once the form is submitted your stall is confirmed. You’ll get a welcome email on Friday 3 June reminding you of the details.

Hackney Showroom Young Artists

ALUMNI NEWS SUMMER 2025

Elle Davies | To appear in Noughts & Crosses at Regents Park Open Air Theatre

Blair Gyabaah | Read about “the beauty of Gyabaah’s performance” in The Stage‘s review of Jermyn Street Theatre’s Little Brother.

Akins Subair | Akins is “astonishing” – enjoy The Guardian‘s feature on the new hit BBC drama Just Act Normal.


HACKNEY SHOWROOM YOUNG ARTISTS 2026

Applications for our 2026 cohort will open in November 2025. To stay in the loop, sign up to our mailing list HERE.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

HSYA is a FREE training programme for young people aged 18-25 who come from working-class / low-income backgrounds and who are serious about starting a professional performance career.

This unique programme delivers rigorous training in acting and live performance with leading industry practitioners who often share the students’ lived experiences. We cover all the core techniques of classical training, interpreting and analysing text, including Shakespeare and contemporary drama, vocal work, movement, screen acting, improvisation, clowning, 1:1 audition training, career advice, coaching, and tailored signposting.

In addition to offering an acting curriculum, we go on theatre trips and train students to become artist-makers by finding their own voice and creating their own work. 

Our 10-month course culminates in an industry showcase of self-created work. In previous years, participants have gone on to gain places at leading drama schools, including RADA, LAMDA, and Guildhall, and work professionally in the industry. 

WHEN AND WHERE?

  • Every Wednesday – 6.30pm – 9pm
  • Sessions take at Hackney Showroom (N4)


AM I ELIGIBLE? 

The project is open to those who meet all of the following criteria: 

  • Those aged 18-25 
  • People from working-class/low-income backgrounds 
  • Those not currently in further or higher education
  • Those living in the following boroughs of London: Enfield, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Haringey, Waltham Forest or Newham. 

Jobs & Opportunities

“A staple in London’s creative scene, Hackney Showroom delivers spell-binding theatre alongside enriching community building, culminating in a unique excellence that is hard to match.” Gay Times 

In 2025-26 Hackney Showroom is celebrating our 10th year. With an exciting slate of original new artistic projects on the horizon, it’s a great time to join our team!

Hackney Showroom is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace culture. We are keen to receive job applications from those from working class backgrounds as well as those with protected characteristics currently under-represented in our workforce, particularly including Black & Global Majority and D/deaf & disabled applicants.

We are signed up to the Disability Confident Scheme and if you meet the minimum criteria for our jobs, we guarantee to see you for interview. If you would like any of our Job Packs in in large print format, please email molly@hakneyshowroom.com

We are not currently recruiting.

Volunteer with us

We have an extraordinary group of committed volunteers who help run our Community Programme and are always looking for more people to join our team. Please see HERE to find out more.

for all the women who thought they were   Mad

by Zawe Ashton

Ran from 14 Oct to 9 Nov 2019 at our pop-up theatre residency at Stoke Newington Town Hall. 
 

“it has a force that demands, and commands, our attention.” Metro

“stimulating and imaginative” ★★★★ The Observer

“Jo McInnes’ production is enhanced by a set of captivating performances. Jumoké Fashola’s matriarch is charmingly formidable and Rae Ann Quayle’s assured final speech unexpectedly heartbreaking.” ★★★★ The Stage 

for all the women who thought they were   Mad is an urgent piece of theatre examining the myriad of forces that collide and conspire against black women living in contemporary Britain today. We held the WORLD PREMIERE at Stoke Newington Town Hall in autumn 2019. Stoke Newington Town Hall is a beautiful listed 1930s art deco building which we transformed into a pop up theatre for this production.

Zawe Ashton is a novelist, poet, playwright, filmmaker and actor. 

Directed by Jo McInnes
Designed by Natalie Pryce & ULTZ
Associate Director Gail Babb
Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy
Sound Designer Tony Gayle
Composer Dan Batters
Movement Director Leah Muller
Dramaturg Nina Lyndon

Cast: Mina Andala, Jumoké Fashola, Layo-Christina Akinlude, Janet Kumah, Jennifer Dixon, Joy Elias-Rilwan, Michael Fitzgerald.

And introducing: Elena Coleman, Chiamara Nwosu and Rae Ann Quayle.

Please note this show contains distressing scenes.

GALA

As part of the run, we held a special and intimate evening with the cast and company, which consisted of an exclusive pre-show drinks reception with specially selected Borough Wines, whilst local chef & friend of Zawe Ashton, Troy Cundy served gastronomic delights.

All proceeds from the evening went towards supporting Hackney Showroom’s work with artists.

SYMPOSIUM & MATINEE

Hosted by broadcaster Gemma Cairney, the FOR ALL THE WOMEN SYMPOSIUM on October 21st 2019 explored how women of colour encounter the mental health system and how that can be bettered. With a range of speakers including Marverine Cole, Dr Suman Fernando, Dr Jayasree Kalathil, Dr William Penson & Dr Kate Wood, the day included a matinee of the show, a Q&A with Zawe Ashton, panel discussions and break-out groups to discuss actions and organise.

Photography by Benji Reid

Supported by Arts Council England, Wellcome Trust & Cockayne Foundation – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation

BURGERZ by Travis Alabanza

Between 2018-2021 the “absolutely vital” (The Stage) worldwide sellout sensation toured the UK, Europe, USA and Brazil. In January 2026 we returned and toured Australia, marking 10 years since that burger slid off Travis’s face on London’s Waterloo Bridge and the impetus for BURGERZ was set in motion. 

“There aren’t enough stars in the universe to put on this review of Burgerz by Travis Alabanza at London’s Southbank” PinkNews

WINNER TOTAL THEATRE AWARD 2019
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CAROL TAMBOR BEST OF EDINBURGH AWARD 2019

“Alabanza takes an act of violence and transforms it into something both beautiful and brutal” Lyn Gardner, Edinburgh Festivals Magazine

“Humane and heart-rending…Alabanza is sassy and witty, feeding off the audience like a seasoned cabaret star” The Guardian

★★★★ The Stage ★★★★ The Guardian ★★★★ Financial Times
★★★★ Across The Arts ★★★★ Arthur’s Seat ★★★★ The List
★★★★★ The Reviews Hub ★★★★★ Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
★★★★★ LGBTQ Arts Review ★★★★★ British Theatre
★★★★★ LondonTheatre ★★★★★ Somewhere EDI

Hurled words. Thrown objects. Dodged Burgers.

After someone threw a burger at them and shouted a transphobic slur, performance artist Travis Alabanza became obsessed with burgers. How they are made, how they feel, and smell. How they travel through the air. How the mayonnaise feels on your skin. This show is the climax of their obsession – exploring how trans bodies survive and how, by them reclaiming an act of violence, we can address our own complicity.

One of the UK’s most prominent  and celebrated trans voices, Alabanza presents a performance that remains timely, unsettling and powerful.

Written & Performed by Travis Alabanza
Directed by Sam Curtis Lindsay
Designer Soutra Gilmour
Associate Designer Isabella Van Braeckel
Lighting Design Lee Curran & Lauren Woodhead
Sound Design XANA
Movement Nando Messias
Dramaturg Nina Lyndon

Running time approx 1hr | Suitable for ages 14+

TRANZ TALKZ

Alongside BURGERZ in 2018 we delivered Tranz Talkz – a series of community meals with trans and gender non conforming people in 6 cities across the UK, exploring how they encounter the world outside their front door. These conversations were recorded and are archived at Bishopsgate Institute.

BURGERZ was developed in Association with Ovalhouse & Marlborough Theatre and supported by Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund & Bishopsgate Institute. BURGERZ at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2019.


Frau Welt by Peter Clements & Oliver Dawe

 

Frau Welt was first performed at Hackney Showroom in October 2017 and at the Assembly Rooms for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018.

REVIEWS Hackney Showroom 2017
★★★★★ The Ethel Mermaids  “Everything about this production is perfection”
★★★★★ The LGBTQ Arts Review  “sumptously funny… unique brand of drag meets theatre”
★★★★★ To Do List “a joy to watch”
★★★★★ QX Magazine “At once darkly funny and touchingly sympathetic… unique!”
★★★★★ Hiskind “a highly effective balance between absurdist cabaret and truthful theatre”
★★★★ Boyz “a piece of truly exceptional theatre”

REVIEWS Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Assembly Rooms 2018
★★★★★ Broadway Baby “a stunning, genre-busting play”
★★★★ The Scotsman “crafted with obvious skill”
★★★★ The List “dark, funny and completely mesmeric”


In anticipation of her retirement, join the cult of Frau Welt worshippers to experience the egomaniacal Midas touch of this grande dame of the theatre from Weimar Berlin to Broadway stardom, her secret is finally exposed…

Frau Welt is a genre-busting play by Peter Clements and Oliver Dawe about the outsider and the consequences of a life excluded.

Directed by Oliver Dawe
Performed by Peter Clements
Based on an original design by Joanna Scotcher
Costumes by Costume Collective
Lighting Design Alex Fernandes
Sound Design Owen Crouch
Movement Director Jane Gibson
Dramaturg Tim Crouch

Special thanks to Paul Stevens for his generous donation to this production.

 

Privacy Policy

Hackney Showroom and the Hackney Showroom website (www.hackneyshowroom.com) is owned by New Future Collective Ltd and operated by New Future Collective/Hackney Showroom staff. We take your privacy seriously and are committed to protecting your personal information and working with honesty, transparency and integrity. This policy sets out how the company uses the information that you provide us with to help further our work in delivering arts and cultural events to communities across East London and beyond.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully

Your Data
New Future Collective will not sell your data to any third parties.

Data- what do we collect?
Details about yourself and information provided that identifies you, such as your name, email and phone number will only be retained by us if you provide the information when buying tickets or subscribing to our newsletter. This Personal Information will be used for operational purposes, i.e. processing orders, and marketing purposes, i.e. contacting you about our cultural programme. When you purchase tickets we will give you the option to opt out of marketing communications. Each e-mail we send you offers you the opportunity to amend these preferences, or you can ask us to do this, by e-mailing hello@hackneyshowroom.com

In order to process a transaction, your Personal Information and card details will be passed to our third party payment provider Stripe. We do not store your card details.

If you would like to revise the information provided to us at any time, or feel what we currently have on record is incorrect, you may update the information by e-mailing hello@hackneyshowroom.com


How do we collect it?

New Future Collective collects individual’s data in a number of different ways, for a number of different purposes- for example we will:

1) Ask for contact details when we are booking audiences or participants for activities. This will be a name, phone number, email address and occasionally an address.
2) Ask for monitoring information from audiences, participants and volunteers, which typically includes information about postcode, date of birth, sexuality, economic background, gender or ethnicity.
3) Ask audiences, participants, artists, staff and volunteers to complete evaluation to support the development of our events, workshops and training. This would typically include feedback about the activity and/or tracking changes to wellbeing, activity levels etc. as a result of taking part in the activity.
4) Ask individuals, groups or organisations who are financial supporters to give us information that allows us to administrate donations and funding. This would typically include information such as a name, contact details, address, email, telephone number and payment details.
5) Ask for contact details from audiences, participants and community members to keep them informed about our events, programmes and opportunities or fundraising initiatives. This would typically be an email address.
6) Ask for consent to collect cookies from the website to allow us to use google analytics.

Why do we collect this data?
New Future Collective collects this data for a number of specific reasons, which are as follows:

1) We ask for contact details so that we can contact you if an event is canceled or changes in some way.
2) We ask for monitoring information in order to ensure that we are reaching the target groups for our projects and services.
3) We ask for evaluation and feedback on what we do, so that we can improve our work and make a case for funding.
4) We ask for financial information if you have asked to make a donation to us so that we can carry out our charitable aims.
5) We ask for your contact details so that we can occasionally contact you via email with news about our projects and services or with suggestions of ways in which you could become involved with our work.
6) We analyse information from audiences, participants and community members to ensure that all of our communications are tailor-made to their needs, interests and requests.
7) We use google analytics to help us understand who is engaging with our website and in what way, in order to improve its functionality.

 

 

 

 

Cookies
Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. They make it possible for us to provide our online ticketing service and track visitor statistics, such as returning visitors.

We use cookies to manage the shopping baskets on our ticketing pages, as well as logging in and using your account pages. The cookies used for these functions are temporary cookies that are removed once the transaction has been completed or you log out. It is not possible to purchase anything on our website without accepting these cookies.

This website uses the following non-essential cookies:

Google Analytics cookies
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, so we don’t know who is using our site. We use the information on how people use our website to compile reports and to help us improve the site. You can go to http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html to find out more about Google Analytics cookies and how to opt-out of them.

Email and web tracking cookies used by New Future Collective:

These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors who have subscribed to our email lists are using the website. This data is not anonymised and we use the information to help improve our email communications and target specifically-tailored messages for our email subscribers. You can review and change your settings using the link just below.

Cookies used by Twitter and Facebook
These cookies provide information on visitors to Twitter and Facebook, check whether users are logged in to either platform and sets application cookies for Twitter and Facebook.

For more information on cookies, please visit:

aboutcookies.org

Use and disclosure of Personal Information
If you contact us we reserve the right to keep a record of that correspondence.

If we are required by law or requested by the police or a regulatory or government authority investigating potentially illegal activities to provide information concerning your activities whilst using the network we shall do so. We may also disclose Personal Information to appropriate third parties to assist in anti-fraud checks and investigations.

How we protect information
We take every precaution to protect your information. To this end all Personal Information stored by us is kept on servers in a secure environment. Only employees and approved contractors/developers we may appoint from time to time, and who need the information to perform a specific job, are granted access to personally identifiable information.

Regular security reviews are held by us to ensure that the site remains safe and secure for your protection.