The RTYDS Intensive Residencies (formerly Three-Month Placements) is a paid opportunity for early career directors and theatre-makers outside of London.

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

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.

Information for Directors and Theatre-Makers

Who are the RTYDS Intensive Residencies for?

This opportunity is specifically for directors and theatre-makers who continue to be marginalised in the theatre industry and face barriers that arise from inequalities due to gender, social, cultural, financial, racial, geographic inequality, educational disadvantage or disability. Particularly those who are working, benefit, criminal class; Black and Global Majority; LGBTQIA+; and Deaf or disabled.

It is for adults over 18 years of age (there is no upper age limit).

Participants for the Intensive Residencies are recruited directly by participating theatre companies through an open recruitment process.

All participants must be resident in the England at point of application and eligible to work in the UK, live locally to the theatre, and want to know more about directing in theatre.

What might an Intensive Residency involve?

Each placement will be bespoke to the theatre company and the successful director or theatre-maker, but it might involve:

• attending design meetings
• observing or assisting in rehearsals
• going on tour
• leading/supporting participation work
• shadowing members of staff
• pastoral and mentoring support with the Artistic Director
• learning about the director’s role in the leadership and operation of the company

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 will be assisting Paul Smith (Artistic Director) on Baby, He Loves You – a new play by Maureen Lennon. She will also direct some of the new commissions at Middle Child’s new 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. Phillippe will spend his residency at Paines Plough assisting director Charlotte Bennett on My Mother’s Funeral: The Show by Kelly Jones, which will be at The Roundabout at Summerhall during Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then on tour around the UK. Socials: @phillippecato
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 will be working as an Assistant Director on Swim Aunty Swim! by Siana Bangura and directed by Madeleine Kludje, and she will also be working on a range of produced and co-created programmes at the Belgrade Theatre.

About Annie Castledine

Over the past five years, one of our core programme activities has been to provide paid intensive Three-Month Placements for directors and theatre-makers, working in partnership with theatre companies across the country. The placements provide the artist with a chance to spend quality time within a company working on shows and learning about the operation of the company.

In 2023/24, we are re-shaping this opportunity slightly and renaming them as the Annie Castledine Intensive Residencies – in celebration of Annie’s work as a director and her long-term support of RTYDS.

Annie 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

Amelia Thornber, Three-Month Placement Director:

“I am so immensely grateful to both RTYDS and The North Wall. This placement has really given me time to think and reflect on my own practice as a theatre maker, about what I want to achieve next and in the long run.”

The North Wall:

“People often think of placements as one-way, ie someone to manage and look after, but I believe that The North Wall has gained equally if not more from Amelia’s presence and contribution during her 3 months with us. It has been an energising time (in spite of its unexpected coronavirus-ending), and we have able to support and develop a relationship with a local artist who will continue to be part of The North Wall family long into the future.”