Physical Fellowship 2026 – UNITED

Now in its 16th year, the Physical Fellowship was established to give young people the opportunity to explore their understanding and experience of physical theatre.

Physical Fellowship elevates the talent and creativity of the next generation of physical theatre practitioners. It recognises the specific needs and training opportunities required to support the development of physical theatre, as part of our national arts sector.

This unique festival provides opportunities for young people to experience physical theatre by seeing, doing, and making. Providing routes into further participation in the artform and supporting aspirational young practitioners and producers. It provides space for young people to perform on the professional stage, to take part in workshops with leading physical theatre professionals, and access inspiring careers information. Bringing together the future of physical theatre in one space.

Physical Fellowship- United
This year, Highly Sprung’s Physical Fellowship explores the theme United, an opportunity for young performers to re-write narratives of division and disparity in our society and throughout history, asking: Does equality truly exist? Can we ever be united?

At the heart of this theme lies a powerful question: can we reach a state where everyone is equal- in status, rights, and opportunity? Or does disparity, the unfair difference between people’s lives, continue to define our world?

At a time when public displays of nationalism and identity are becoming increasingly charged, Physical Fellowship United is an act of reclamation. Young people in this year’s Fellowship have the opportunity to redefine what unity means, not through flags or boundaries, but through empathy, equality, and shared humanity. Where performance stands as a quiet resistance to narratives that divide, imagining a future where being “united” is not about conformity or nationalism, but about connection, understanding, and collective strength.

For the 2026 headline performance Sprung Advance Plus dives into these questions through a darkly reimagined Victorian London, inspired by Oliver Twist. The new devised piece follows a young Bill Sykes, revealing how poverty and privilege predetermine lives and choices. Through Highly Sprung’s signature physical storytelling, the performance exposes the forces that shape a child’s fate when wealth dictates opportunity.

Though rooted in the 19th century, this story resonates powerfully today. Rising inequality, the cost-of-living crisis, and barriers to social mobility show that economic division is far from history. By exploring how wealth continues to govern access to education, housing, and opportunity, the performance draws a bold connection between past and present- asking what it truly means to be united in a world still divided by wealth.