Get Involved

We always look forward to welcoming new members and you only need to become a member once you get cast in the production or join the Creative Team.

To become a member, please download the membership form, complete and return to: membership@cops.org.uk

If you want to find out more about our different types of membership, click here.

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Acting

Seating just 63, our theatre is a wonderfully intimate space, which means you can really feel a great connection with the audience when performing. We also try and offer new and challenging plays that offer great opportunities for cast and creative teams and engage our audiences.

CoPs produces five shows a year, plus other activities such as rehearsed readings. Most of our recent shows have included new members.

We run open auditions where anyone can turn up and read for a part and the director casts the play from those who audition on merit. All we ask is that, if you are cast, you become a member of the company (£20 a year). You don’t have to pay any

The Cane at The Company of Players (Hertford) 14

other costs, for example for scripts, and as a member, you will receive our newsletter, future audition notices and discounts on tickets.

We rehearse for 8-10 weeks before a show, and generally rehearse on the stage, not in another space. Schedules are planned to work around the creative team’s and cast’s availability where possible.

Our current season has many roles to fill and of differing sizes. We are always looking for new actors to join our company, so do please get in touch!

Directing

Shakespeare in Hollywood at The Company of Players (Hertford) 28

CoPs is a great venue to direct a play. The theatre can accommodate a thrust, traverse, and standard proscenium arch arrangements in an intimate venue with up to date technical facilities, knowledgeable crew and a great cast pool.

We ask directors to submit play(s) and then a committee will consider all submissions before coming to a decision on a balanced season of 5 plays.

Our aim is to select the best season possible by maximising the number of submitting directors and being offered a good range of plays to choose from. We are now looking for directors for the season from September 2025 to June 2026.

Anyone can submit a play to direct, and we are actively seeking new directors. Experience at CoPs or at other venues is seen as an advantage, so assisting to direct a current CoPs production is a way to gain that experience. Do please ask…

Front of House

Front of House staff are critically important to the smooth running of every show – and they are face the public meets on arrival at the theatre. Jobs include managing the house, stewarding, and serving wine and making coffee.

Being part of the FOH team is a great way to meet people and It also gives you an insight into how show operate at COPS,  should you want  to get involved with the company as part of a cast or creative team.

Those who undertake Front of House activities can also claim a free ticket on another night, so they can fully enjoy the show.

Backstage & Technical

The technical aspects of CoPs productions include design and operation of lighting, sound and sometimes video and projection.

Our Little Theatre is well equipped. Our lighting rig consists of an ETC Element console running 84 channels of dimming. We have a large number of conventional lights plus some LED fixtures.

For sound we run everything on a Mac, using QLab software, feeding six channels of speakers.

We are fortunate in having a great tech team. Design, rigging and operation is often shared, so it is possible for people to gain knowledge and experience, culminating in taking responsibility for a production.

For more information contact technical@cops.org.uk.

Props

…or more correctly properties – no not your house, the things the actors use on stage.

Being responsible for the props for a play can be great fun. It could involve finding things, buying/hiring things or even making things.

Being the props person is a great way to get to know everybody involved in the production, especially how different people work, particularly directors – some will be very specific about an item, others will give a general idea and then leave it to ‘props’ to sort out.

Over the course of a season the requirements for plays can be very diverse, plays with a historical setting have one sort of challenge, modern plays another.

Research is often the key to solving a problem and is in itself very rewarding.

There are also the ‘practicals’ to produce – this usually means the actors have to drink or eat on stage. Other ‘practicals’ include the requirement of the play for smoking or stage blood.

If you are new to CoPs and ‘props’, help is at hand, you would not be left to work alone! We have experienced crew members who will work with you, often we put a small team together sharing the tasks, using the individual strengths of the members.

To assist further, we are fortunate to have a small storage room in the theatre – the ‘props cupboard’ and a double garage at the end of the path for the furniture and other large pieces. At CoPs the props team is usually responsible for finding the furniture – be it a small stool or a chaise longue.

For more information please get in touch using the contact form and select Props.

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