Musical Theatre Summer Camp Streatham | Wicked Summer 2026 | Theative

A Wickedly Wonderful Summer: Inside Our Wicked Performing Arts Camp in Streatham

There was only one way to finish another fantastic year at Theative Performing Arts: by turning our Streatham studios pink and green and spending a week singing, dancing and defying gravity!

Our Wicked-inspired musical theatre summer camp Streatham adventure brought together around 35 young performers for five jam-packed days of dance, singing, acting, acrobatics, crafts, games, friendship and plenty of Oz-inspired magic.

Musical Theatre Summer Camp Streatham: Five Days to Create a Show

One of our favourite things about Theative holiday camps is just how much our campers can achieve in a single week.

Rather than spending five days simply learning a few dances, everything we worked on gradually became part of a proper mini musical theatre production for families on Friday afternoon.

Our campers were divided into age groups so that everyone could be challenged at an appropriate level, from our littlest performers right through to our oldest dancers.

Across the week, they learned choreography inspired by some of our favourite Wicked songs. Our youngest performers danced to Wonderful and Popular, our middle group tackled Thank Goodness and The Wizard and I, while our oldest campers took on Dancing Through Life and an ambitious acro and jazz routine to Defying Gravity.

And yes, there was quite a lot of Wicked music stuck in all of our heads by Friday.

We didn't mind.

Singing our way through Oz

Dance was only one part of the challenge.

Miss Amelia led some brilliant singing sessions throughout the week, with lots of fun vocal exercises before we began putting together the musical numbers for our show.

The whole cast performed Dear Old Shiz, while our two older groups worked on What Is This Feeling? and One Short Day. Our youngest campers had their own moment with Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Some of our campers also auditioned for featured singing and dialogue moments, giving children who wanted an extra challenge the opportunity to step forward and perform individually.

One of our favourite rehearsal moments, though, came from one of our very youngest campers. Far too little to actually read the words in her songbook, she nevertheless stood beside the big girls, book in hand, absolutely determined to join in with their rehearsal.

The fact that she was holding the songbook completely upside down only made her commitment to the role even better.

Dance, acro and a little bit of Defying Gravity

Of course, if you're going to create a Wicked-inspired show, at some point somebody has to defy gravity.

Our older campers combined jazz choreography with acrobatics to create some of the week's most ambitious routines, including tumbling skills, group work and an impressive assisted lift for their final performance.

Throughout the week, we love seeing children stretch themselves beyond what they initially think they can do. Camp gives them the chance to learn new material quickly, work with different children and discover just how much can be achieved when everybody works together.

And because our camps welcome children with a range of previous experience, success doesn't have to look the same for everyone. For one child it might be mastering an acro skill. For another, remembering an entire dance. For someone else, it might simply be finding the confidence to stand onstage in front of an audience for the very first time.

Getting creative offstage too

We certainly weren't going to spend the entire week dancing.

Between rehearsals, our campers headed to the craft room for a little creative downtime.

This year they made Wicked-inspired friendship bracelets, Glinda wands, Elphaba hats and some particularly fabulous paper lantern hot-air balloons, complete with individually decorated baskets and passengers ready to float away over Oz.

Arts and crafts were overseen by a very special addition to the team this summer: our resident Camp Nana, Miss Debi (Miss Amy's Mum) who travelled all the way down from Lancashire to help us for the week. She very quickly became a firm favourite.

As well as keeping the craft activities running, Miss Debi provided a handy quiet corner for anyone who needed a little break from the excitement. Sometimes a busy day of performing calls for a few peaceful minutes, a chat or a cuddle before you're ready to jump back in.

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Camp friendships are part of the magic

One of the loveliest things about holiday camps is watching friendships develop across the week.

Around three quarters of this year's campers had attended a Theative camp before, so there were plenty of excited reunions on Monday morning. But there were new faces too, and it never takes very long before everyone begins to feel part of the group.

Because children spend an entire week creating something together, there are so many opportunities for our older and younger performers to encourage one another, help each other and celebrate each other's successes. There were also, naturally, plenty of silly moments.

Lights, costumes... TikToks!

By Friday, our ordinary rehearsal space was almost unrecognisable.

Pink and green lighting transformed the room, fairy lights surrounded our performance area and our campers finally got into the costumes they had been waiting all week to wear.

And we were obsessed with them.

Before families arrived, we had one final very important item on the schedule: filming.

For about an hour, the campers helped us create a collection of Wicked-themed TikToks and Reels in costume. After spending the week working so hard on their show, it was a chance to relax, be ridiculous and enjoy being completely immersed in the theme.

Then it was time for the real thing.

Our biggest camp performance yet

Families joined us on Friday afternoon for what became our longest and most ambitious camp performance so far.

At around 35 minutes long, this wasn't simply a quick demonstration of a couple of dances the children had learned during the week. They had created a proper mini show.

There were group songs, dances, acrobatics, featured moments and performances from each of our different age groups, all brought together in front of our pink and green Oz-inspired backdrop.

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  Children performing together in Theative's pink and green Wicked inspired summer camp show

Watching children perform something on Friday that simply didn't exist on Monday morning is always one of our favourite parts of camp.

There are inevitably moments during the week when someone forgets what comes next, a formation goes completely wrong or we wonder how on earth we're going to get everything finished in time.

And then the audience arrives.

The costumes go on.

The lights come up.

And somehow, they do it.

And the Gold goes to...

There was just one final piece of camp business after the show.

Throughout the week, campers could earn our special Theative "Gold" for brilliant effort, kindness, teamwork, perseverance and all the other little things we love to see at camp.

Our two highest Gold earners received a rather unique prize this year: their very own handmade Elphaba and Glinda crochet dolls.

There was, however, a slight issue.

At the beginning of camp week, those dolls didn't actually exist.

So while our campers rehearsed, danced and crafted their way through Oz, Miss Amy spent virtually every spare moment furiously crocheting: on the commute to and from camp, during lunch breaks and late into the night.

The children knew that whatever was gradually appearing from the crochet hook would eventually become the Gold prizes, and became increasingly intrigued as the mysterious blobs of green, black, pink and yellow slowly started resembling two rather familiar witches.

Five days, a considerable amount of yarn and not nearly enough sleep later, Elphaba and Glinda were finished just in time to meet their new owners.

Worth it? Absolutely.

Another unforgettable Theative summer camp

By the end of the week we were exhausted, surrounded by costumes and props, and still singing Wicked songs to ourselves.

We wouldn't have had it any other way.

Our holiday camps are about giving children the opportunity to dance, sing, act, create, perform, make friends, try something new and surprise themselves with what they can achieve.

Some campers arrive already bursting with confidence. Others need a little longer to find their feet. Some have trained with us for years, while others walk through our doors for the very first time on Monday morning.

By Friday, they're a cast.

And that might just be our favourite bit of magic of all.

Want to join us for our next performing arts holiday camp in Streatham?

Keep an eye on our website and social media for upcoming holiday camp announcements and booking information. We can't wait to see where our next adventure takes us!