An RTYDS Intensive Residency (formerly Three-Month Placement) is a paid opportunity for early career directors and theatre makers outside of London.

RTYDS offers theatre companies funding to host an Intensive Residency, which can either be at Assistant Director or Associate Director level. The successful director or theatre-maker will spend three months full-time or six months part-time in the organisation, learning about the role and skills of how work is made.

The residencies have been previously funded by the Annie Castledine Award, which was established by RTYDS in 2022 in memory of the influential director.

Find out more

To find out about when new Intensive Residency opportunities open for applications, follow RTYDS on social media or sign up to our mailing list.

Recent Intensive Residencies

Rachael Abbey at Middle Child
		Rachael is a Yorkshire based theatre maker, making work which talks about big issues in personal ways. Her work often focuses on autobiographical narratives, using humour to navigate difficult conversations. She has previously worked for Leeds Playhouse, Hull Truck Theatre, Middle Child Theatre, Unlimited Theatre, The Roaring Girls and John Godber Company. During her residency at Middle Child, Rachael assisted Paul Smith (Artistic Director) on Baby, He Loves You – a new play by Maureen Lennon. She also directed some of the new commissions at Middle Child’s inaugural Fresh Ink Playwriting Festival in Hull.
Phillippe Cato at Paines Plough
		Phillippe (he/him) is a Zimbabwean born freelance director, dramaturg, singer songwriter, and composer. He is interested in creating and developing new work that explores socially relevant and representative stories, with a focus on global majority and queer voices. Phillippe is a co-founder of Telluric. During his residency at Paines Plough, Phillippe assisted director Charlotte Bennett on My Mother’s Funeral: The Show by Kelly Jones, which was at The Roundabout at Summerhall during Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024 and then toured around the UK.
Sarah Githugu at the Belgrade Theatre
		Sarah (she/her) is a writer, facilitator and emerging director from Coventry, UK. Following her directorial debut of The High Life (Barons Court Theatre), Sarah is passionate about work that challenges societal norms and uplifts marginalised peoples. During the intensive residency at the Belgrade Theatre, Sarah worked as Assistant Director on Swim Aunty Swim! by Siana Bangura and directed by Madeleine Kludje, and she also worked on a range of produced and co-created programmes at the Belgrade Theatre.

About Annie Castledine

Annie Castledine was a powerful, bold and dynamic figure in British theatre for over 50 years. Described by her long-time collaborator Stephen Daldry as ‘a giant, a mother and a force for all that’s best in the theatre’, her important contribution to theatre during the 1980s and 90s and throughout her career influenced successive generations of directors, inspiring them to be courageous, outspoken and to challenge the status quo. Find out more