PLAY! Festival 2025

PLAY! is a week-long, annual festival of arts presented by the School of Performing & Digital Arts, showcasing some of the best and most innovative music, film, and theatre at Royal Holloway.

PLAY! Festival returns bigger and better than ever, showcasing the very best of music, film, and theatre at one of the UK's highly-ranked arts faculties, with events curated and performed by the staff and students of Royal Holloway. With pop-up recitals, film screenings, cross-arts collaborations, jazz and music theatre gigs, talks and recital-lectures, an International Music Feast, new music from across the UK, plus the year's largest orchestral event, PLAY! offers a bundle of exciting events for all.

This year's festival will take place between Sunday, 8 June 2025 to Friday, 13 June 2025, in venues across campus.

Get involved

Applications are now open for students and staff at Royal Holloway's School of Performing & Digital Arts to propose an event for PLAY! Festival 2025. To complete our short application, please visit this webpage or visit this webpage for general festival information (links embedded).

Applications for PLAY! event proposals close at 12.00pm on Monday, 5 May 2025.

Need inspiration?

Not sure what to propose or in need of a collaborator? Then join us for our PLAY! 2025 Co-Lab Mixer on Wednesday, 2 April 2025 between 6.30pm - 8.00pm in the Katharine Worth Building to meet other potential collaborators, and to dream up a new project to be featured at PLAY! 2025. You will also have the opportunity to meet departmental specialists to troubleshoot any initial ideas you want to bring to life.