CALLOUT: Sound Mentorship Placement for Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
By Lucy Kirkwood
Devised by Katie Mitchell and Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Bryony Shanahan
A Northern Stage Production
“I expect you have been told fairytales before. But you have never really heard a fairytale until you have heard it told by a real fairy.”
A stolen rose spells bad news for our heroine Beauty and her unfortunate dad in this enchantingly wicked retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Families are invited to join our narrators – two mischievous fairies – a ‘thoughtsnatcher machine’ and a helpful rabbit to experience this tale as old as time in new and touching ways for Christmas 2025.
With music provided by the fleas and flies, lices and louses of the Insect Orchestra, you’ll find yourself in rural France with an eclectic cast of characters as the Prince hopes to lift a disgruntled fairy’s beastly spell.
The Role
Northern Stage and the Association for Sound Design and Production (ASDP) are working in partnership to offer a mentorship placement opportunity for an individual living in the North East and working in theatre sound to shadow and be mentored by Annie May Fletcher, the production’s Sound Designer, and the Northern Stage sound team. The placement is open to Professionals, Future Professionals, or anyone having an enforced pause from work; we’re particularly interested to hear from individuals looking to SCALE UP their practice and those who would benefit from experiencing a mid-scale production process in their professional development journey.
The placement will be tailored to the individual but, to enable the successful candidate to experience the breath and range of what it takes to create sound for the world of theatre on the mid-scale, the placement will involve the opportunity to shadow and work closely with all roles in the sound department, from the Sound Designer and Composer to the Production Sound Engineer and Sound No’s 1 and 2.
In line with Northern Stage’s commitment to the region we serve and the ASDP’s commitment to developing regional sound talent, we want to use this opportunity to meet practitioners from or based in the North East and living in postcodes beginning NE, SR, DH, DL or TS.
Key Info
Dates
The placement will run over 10 days, beginning on or around Thursday 20 November and ending on or around Monday 1 December 2025.
Remuneration
This is an unpaid placement opportunity, however, ASDP members are able to apply for financial support through the ASDP mentorship scheme. Please visit www.theasdp.com.
There will also be additional preparatory work to be arranged with the Set and Costume Designer.
How to Apply
Please register your interest by completing this form, which includes providing a copy of your CV.
Artists should also please follow this link to complete our Equalities Monitoring Form: Equalities Monitoring
Northern Stage has a range of priorities, which we consider as part of any appointment to ensure we’re delivering the change we’re committed to seeing in Northern Stage, in the region we serve, and in the theatre sector.
These priorities include:
- In line with our efforts to build a more diverse and representative theatre industry, we are particularly interested in hearing from Disabled practitioners, practitioners from the Global Majority, and/or practitioners from working class/lower socio-economic backgrounds.
- Northern Stage productions are built with the contemporary North East in mind, and we are therefore interested in hearing from artists from or based in the North East of England.
- As part of SCALE UP, our talent development programme supporting artists on a journey of scale, we are committed to employing artists on all of our productions who are making their journey to making work on the midscale.
The deadline for expressions of interests is 9am Monday 20 October 2025
We will contact artists by Friday 24 October 2025 to let them know if they have been shortlisted.
Shortlisted artists will meet with a representative of Northern Stage, the ASDP and the Sound Designer in w/c 27 October 2025
We will be in contact with all artists regarding the outcome of the process no later than the w/c 3 November 2025.
Northern Stage is a theatre where everyone is welcome.
We make and present contemporary theatre, live performance and creative programmes that spark connections, provoke curiosity and joy, and explore new ways of seeing the world from our home in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne.
We promote creativity and provide life-changing experiences for people who would not normally have access to such opportunities.
Northern Stage is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, which means funding thanks to National Lottery players plays a huge part in supporting our work.
Box Office 0191 230 5151 / www.northernstage.co.uk
About the ASDP
The UK theatre sound industry primarily consists of individuals working in a freelance capacity, who until the existence of the ASDP rarely met and had little means for professional development. Our aim is to provide a community and a variety of educational and support networks – both online and in real life. We offer assistance to those who live far away from industry centres like London to be able to travel to our training events. We offer the loan of recording equipment to those who might otherwise struggle to access it. We also exist to provide a mouthpiece for the industry – to vocalise the issues our members face, and to improve their working lives. We also provide resources and open access training to non-members and the rest of the industry.
The Association for Sound Design and Production advocates for a diverse and inclusive theatre sound community, in which all members, regardless of race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical ability, mental health, nationality, language, religion, belief, or socioeconomic background can work with dignity and in safety.
All ASDP members are expected to take responsibility for creating inclusive, productive working environments that are positive and supportive. As Theatre Sound professionals, we also have a responsibility to raise concerns we may have about unsafe working experiences and to stand up for others in vulnerable positions, where appropriate and possible.
The ASDP is committed to support and empower its members to work freely and creatively, in environments in which everyone can be themselves, respected, valued, and feel that their voices are heard. You can read more about become a member here: https://www.theasdp.com/membership