PLAY! is our annual summer festival showcasing some of the best of our arts community at Royal Holloway, presented by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.
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, spoken word, film screenings, cross-arts collaborations, jazz and music theatre gigs, talks and recital-lectures, 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, 7 June 2026 to Friday, 12 June 2026, in venues across campus.
Get involved
Applications are now open for students and staff at Royal Holloway's Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences to propose an event for PLAY! Festival 2026.
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 Thursday, 7 May 2026.
Need inspiration?
Not sure what to propose or in need of a collaborator? Then join us for our PLAY! 2026 Co-Lab Mixer on Tuesday, 5 May 2026 between 6.00pm - 7.30pm in Founder's Lecture Theatre to meet other potential collaborators, and to dream up a new project to be featured at PLAY! 2026.
You will also have the opportunity to meet the Festival Director to troubleshoot any initial ideas you want to bring to life, and to refine your application.
What's On
Our FREE festival events will be released on Friday, 22 May 2026. To find out what's on, please visit our events page (link embedded).
