Set the tone before anyone picks up a script

Mixed-age casts work best when everyone knows the rules before the first read-through. Book a thirty-minute meeting with the whole company — children, adults and a couple of parents — and agree a short list of expectations out loud. Punctuality, phones on silent in bags, no talking while someone else is working, and how we speak to each other when we are tired. Write it on a sheet and pin it to the wall. It sounds officious; in practice it saves you having to correct a forty-year-old in front of a nine-year-old.

Be equally clear about what the children are doing there. They are not scenery or a photo opportunity for the poster. Give them real parts, real lines and real notes. Tell the adults plainly that the young company members will be treated as performers, and that they should not step in to direct them mid-scene. If an adult has a genuine concern, they bring it to you afterwards.

Say it so everyone in the room understands

Theatre vocabulary is a wall. "Cheat out", "pick up your cue", "you're upstaging yourself" — an eight-year-old will nod politely and understand nothing. Produce a one-page glossary at the first read-through, or better still, teach the terms physically. Walk someone through upstaging so the whole room sees why it matters, then use the word from then on.

Give direction as an action rather than a feeling. "Be angrier" gives a child nothing to do. "Cross to the table on the word 'never'" gives them something to repeat. If you want an emotional shift, describe the physical: shoulders down, chin up, speak more slowly.

Watch your volume and your height. Notes delivered from a standing distance can feel like a telling-off, particularly to a nervous ten-year-old, so crouch or sit where you can. Praise specifically — "that pause before your last line was exactly right" — rather than generally. Adults can absorb a blunt note; children hear "be better" as "you are not good enough".

Structure the call so nobody is sitting around

Long waits make young performers restless and adults grumpy. Build each rehearsal as a sandwich: whole company warm-up, split blocks, then everyone back together for the final twenty minutes.

During split blocks, keep the children working on something they can own — lines with a partner, a movement sequence, checking props on the table. If a child genuinely must wait, give them a task: "watch the next scene and tell me one moment that worked and one you didn't believe." A performer with a notebook is still rehearsing.

You also need another adult in the room. In the UK, if you are working with under-18s, licensing and safeguarding duties are not optional, so recruit a registered chaperone or a trusted helper early. That person should not be a second director, but they should have the authority to take a tired child out for water and a sit-down without interrupting the scene.

Ten minutes of games, every single rehearsal

Shared play is the fastest route from "a group of people in a hall" to "a company". Put games at the top of the call, when everyone is fresh, and include the adults without irony. A few that work with mixed ages:

• Name and action. Everyone stands in a circle and says their name with a gesture and a line in character. The group repeats it back. Fast, silly, and it kills the fear of looking ridiculous.
• Pass the clap. Send a single clap around the circle using eye contact only, and see how fast the group can travel it. Add a second clap going the other way. It demands total attention from everyone, which is the point.
• Family portrait. Call out a moment from the play; the group has five seconds to build a frozen picture of it, no talking. It teaches listening and spatial awareness, and shows you who is watching whom.
• One-word story. Build a story one word at a time around the circle. Slow it down and allow silence. It teaches patience and the discipline of not jumping in.
• Mirror pairs. Two performers face each other; one leads, one follows, then swap. Deliberately pair a child with an adult. It builds trust between ages faster than any conversation.

Keep it short. Ten minutes is plenty; twenty minutes of games becomes a rehearsal you have lost.

Notes, nerves and the difficult moments

Give most notes to the company rather than to individuals alone — an adult who watches a note given to a child learns as much as the child does. If a young performer is struggling, repeat the note in a different way rather than a louder way, and pair them with an adult for a few minutes of line-running. If an adult is struggling, be direct but private.

Expect one wobble around the technical rehearsal, usually from the youngest and the oldest at the same moment. Feed everyone, keep the breaks regular, finish on time, and thank people properly at the end of each session. A company that trusts you to protect their energy will give you far more in performance — and will come back next season.