International British Theatre School Reviews 

My 7 year old son has been having one-to-one online drama lessons with Ben since March this year and they have been absolutely brilliant.

The sessions are broad, varied and very engaging. Ben has worked with him on improvisation, character development, accents, singing and performance technique, giving him a really strong foundation before moving into more formal LAMDA work, which we are planning to do. He also works on his general conversation skills which has given my son confidence in other areas too.

Ben is supportive, encouraging, focused and professional. My son has so much fun in the lessons that he doesn’t really realise how much he is learning, and he feels very comfortable and confident working with him online.

We originally found the British Theatre School through one of their holiday camps, which my son also loved, but the online classes have been especially valuable for his individual development.

It has also been particularly helpful to have access to such a great teacher when geography limits our options.

I would highly recommend the online drama lessons.

This organization is incredibly disorganized. I booked a camp for my son and the dates got changed such that we couldn’t participate. We were offered a refund and we accepted that offer promptly. It took three months and dozens of emails and this negative review before I finally got my refund. Would never voluntarily put myself through this again.

Be very very careful with this company. Our daughter had an amazing time last year and so we booked and paid for her to go against this summer. Unfortunately the camp was cancelled and for the last 4 weeks we have been fobbed off and avoided trying to get a refund. Whether they are having cashflow troubles and cannot refund the money or are just defrauding their customers I don't know. What I do know is that fund transfers are instantaneous so there is no good business reason for a delay of over a month

I am writing this review to warn other international customers about this company's unacceptable refund practices.

My order was for an event that was officially cancelled by the organizers over a month ago. Following the cancellation, the company explicitly promised a full refund. Since then, I have followed up multiple times and received nothing but generic stalling tactics and broken promises.

If you are considering buying tickets from this company, be warned: if anything goes wrong, they will hold onto your money indefinitely. I will update this review if and when they actually return the funds.

EDIT / UPDATE:

I have now received the full refund, approximately three months after the event was cancelled. I am updating my review because Ben is trying to get my review removed from Trustpilot for 'defamation'. I'm happy to say that Trustpilor did not honor his request, but I do feel prompted document what actually happened during those three months, and Ben's actions.

The timeline is important:

* June 18: The company cancelled the event and told me that their Finance Team would begin processing refunds the following week.
* July 6: Having received no refund or meaningful update, I followed up. I was told that the refund was “scheduled to be processed by our Finance Team tomorrow” and that I should allow 2–3 business days for the funds to arrive.
* July 14: The refund still had not arrived. I followed up again and specifically asked for the Klarna refund confirmation or transaction ID so that I could contact Klarna myself and help determine where the payment was being held up.
* July 28: I still had not received the refund or a meaningful resolution.

At no point in any of these communications was I told that there was a problem with Stripe or PayPal. Instead, I was repeatedly given specific assurances that the refund was being processed and would arrive shortly.

The explanation I subsequently received from the company is that they had been locked out of their Stripe and PayPal accounts for several weeks. There are two problems with this explanation from my perspective.

First, I did not pay through Stripe or PayPal — I paid through Klarna. Second, the payment-provider issue was never communicated to me when I was actually trying to find out what was happening. I was instead given repeated assurances that the refund was being processed, which turned out not to be the case.

I also understand that customers who paid by direct bank transfer experienced a similarly long wait. This makes the retrospective explanation about Stripe and PayPal even less convincing as an explanation for the overall refund failure.

I am therefore glad that the money has finally been returned, but the explanation provided afterwards does not feel like taking responsibility for what actually happened. It feels more like an attempt to shift responsibility to payment providers for a problem that was never communicated to customers and does not even correspond to the payment method I used.

There is also another part of this experience that I feel has been completely overlooked.

The cancellation was not simply a financial transaction. My daughter was hugely disappointed that the event she had been looking forward to was cancelled. I understand that events sometimes have to be cancelled because of insufficient enrolment, and I am not suggesting that the company could necessarily have avoided the cancellation. But throughout all of the subsequent communication, the focus has been almost entirely mechanical: processing refunds, payment providers, administration and policies.

There has been no meaningful acknowledgement of the disappointment caused to my daughter, nor was I ever offered a meaningful alternative experience after the cancellation. The subsequent apology also focuses almost entirely on the administrative failure rather than acknowledging the actual experience for the child who was looking forward to attending.

Finally, a small point, but when publicly addressing a customer, it would probably be good for the company's image to at least spell the customer's name correctly. My name is Arthur van der Wal, not “Mr. Waal.”

I appreciate that the refund has finally been made and that the company has apologised. However, I am leaving this review in place because it accurately reflects my experience and because receiving the money back months later does not erase how poorly the situation was handled, and I want to make sure other people can make an informed decision when engaging with this company.

My daughter absolutely loved the support from staff the friends she made

My son skipped in each day and had gained so much in terms confidence and skills by the end of the week.

My child had a wonderful time. The teachers were fun and kind. The outdoor time was fab! Really great camp and what a BEAUTIFUL location!

They cancelled 36 hours before the course was due to start. It was too late to get alternative childcare during that week which was a nightmare. They emailed, said they would call to apologise and never did! So disappointing.

ITBS's 1-1 tutorials are the week's highlight for our son (9yrs). He thoroughly enjoys Ben’s engaging and dedicated teaching style, as well as the opportunity to exchange ideas with him.

Although our 7-year-old daughter is bilingual and tends to be reserved, she courageously stepped onto the stage, delivering her lines with a clear voice despite some initial nerves. She had a wonderful time during the camp week, especially while preparing for the performance, and she really appreciated the instructors. We're looking forward to participating again next summer!

After trying out five different theatre schools, my children’s enthusiasm has only grown with each experience. It's truly impressive how the team manages to prepare them for a full play in just 4.5 days. As a parent, I couldn't be happier and would highly recommend this to others.

My children have now attended 5 theatre schools and they love it more every time they attend. It is quite amazing that the team engage them to perform a full play at the end of only 4.5 days. Highly recommend, very happy parent.

This was the first time our almost 8 year old boy joined the theater camp, and he had a great time! This one week programme was fun, engaging and inspiring. We were surprised to see how the end products (two shows) came alive with all the little ones with just one week practice. Definitely look forward to joining this program another time during school holidays. Thank you British theater camp!

My daughter attended a summer camp, and it was amazing! She had so much fun every single day, and only wished the camp could have lasted all summer. She felt seen, motivated, and supported by the staff. We could not have had a better experience; it was perfect.

Our 7-year old daughter is bilingual and quite shy. She got up on stage with confidence, though a bit nervous, and said her lines loudly! She enjoyed the camp week, preparing for the performance and loved the teachers. We hope to join again next summer!

The team put up an amazing show in the space of one week! All the kids seemed to have enjoyed it and participated in the show enthusiastically. The team also had great rapport with the kids, which was wonderful to see! My child is already looking forward to the next one. See you again next year!

A Wonderful Experience for Our Daughter

Our daughter, Mia (8 years old) , had a fantastic time at the summer camp! We were a bit concerned about how she would manage, as English is her third language, but those fears were completely unfounded. The staff and other students were incredibly welcoming, and Mia felt comfortable and included from the very first day.
The week culminated in a wonderful final presentation. It was so clear to see how much the kids enjoyed the entire process. They were having a blast, and it was a joy to watch them all perform with such enthusiasm. Thank you for providing such a positive and memorable experience for Mia! Even more considering this was the first time in NL.
Our daughter wants to repeat next year for sure!

My children had a wonderful time and developed a new perspective on acting. It was a great experience and we hope to enroll them again for next year.

Everything

L’esperienza è stata interessante per la bravura della scuola di teatro, per la capacità di saper trasmettere l’arte del recitare e la capacità di recitare insieme al gruppo ed anche di trasmettere solidarietà e amicizia tra i bambini.