★★☆☆☆
I attended Stagebox from 2017–2020, and this review is based entirely on my own experience during those years. I also want to separate the training from the culture: I’m not reviewing or criticising the standard of the musical theatre training itself. My two-star rating is about the environment I experienced, particularly the relationships between people and the way I felt certain issues were handled by management.
There were absolutely positive memories from my time there, and I met some talented and lovely people. However, looking back as an adult, there were also parts of the culture that I now recognise as unhealthy and that have stayed with me much more than I expected them to.
Bullying and exclusion were a significant part of my personal experience. At times, I felt there was a very obvious social hierarchy among the young people, and being part of the same cast did not necessarily mean feeling like part of a supportive team. There were occasions when I felt excluded, picked on or uncomfortable because of the behaviour of other cast members. What affected me most was feeling that the adults and management around us either did not recognise what was happening or did not intervene in a way that made me feel genuinely protected and supported.
When you are young and surrounded by ambitious performers, it can already be an intense environment. In my experience, that intensity sometimes created what I can only describe as a “Dance Moms” type of atmosphere — competition, favourites, comparison and a sense that status within the group mattered far more than it should have. That may not have been the intention, but it was how the environment felt to me at the time.
I also found that when negative experiences or concerns were raised, I did not always feel they were properly acknowledged. There is a big difference between encouraging young performers to become resilient and making someone feel that their feelings or experiences are being minimised. Looking back, I wish there had been more emphasis on emotional wellbeing, healthy friendships, inclusion and creating a culture where young people felt completely comfortable speaking up.
For me, this is particularly important because these environments involve children and teenagers during incredibly formative years. A young performer can receive excellent technical opportunities while simultaneously having a difficult social experience. The quality of the training should never mean that concerns about bullying, exclusion or wellbeing become secondary.
I appreciate that I attended between 2017 and 2020, so I cannot comment on what Stagebox is like today, and I genuinely hope things have evolved since then. I also recognise that other people may have had completely different and very positive experiences.
However, I can only review the experience I personally had. Despite some good memories and opportunities, the bullying and social dynamics I experienced, combined with how unsupported and invalidated I sometimes felt when dealing with them, significantly affected my overall experience. Looking back with adult perspective, there are things I would now consider unhealthy that I simply accepted as normal at the time.
For those reasons, although I am deliberately making no judgement about the quality of the musical theatre training, I can only give my experience of the culture and management during 2017–2020 two stars.