We are delighted to announce that the 2023 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award Scheme is now open for entries!
Now in its seventh year, the Award – which honours the memory of RTST co-founder, Sir Peter Hall – offers the winner their first-time opportunity to direct a fully realised, mid-scale production of a classic or modern play in a British regional theatre leading to a tour.
The 2023 Award-winner will win the opportunity to create a brand-new production at Northern Stage (on Stage 1), with the support of our Artistic Director Natalie Ibu and the full Northern Stage team, in a co-production with Rose Theatre and English Touring Theatre (ETT). The production will open in September 2024 as part of Northern Stage’s Autumn season and then tour to ETT tour venues and to Rose Theatre.
The RTST will make a grant of £50,000 to support the costs of the production.
The Award scheme promotes the RTST’s charitable objectives by supporting up-and-coming directors and British regional theatres. It is also intended to appeal to a wide range of candidates and to play a part in promoting diversity in the theatre, onstage, offstage and among audiences.
The wining director will demonstrate exceptional directing skills and a passion for regional theatre, and will be chosen by a panel comprising Natalie Ibu (Chair), Tinuke Craig (director), Christopher Haydon (Artistic Director, Rose Theatre), Kate McGrath (playwright & CEO of Fuel Theatre), Lucian Msamati (actor) and Richard Twyman (Artistic Director, ETT).
This year, Newcastle is the exciting hub of our regional-theatre-focused RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award scheme. We’re thrilled to be running the Award with Northern Stage under the inspiring leadership of Kate Denby and Natalie Ibu, and delighted they’ll be working with our friends at Rose Theatre and ETT in co-producing the winner’s production next year. Once again, our unique Award and its linked production grant will be the catalyst for a national tour directed by an individual making their high-profile directing debut in mid-scale regional theatre. Although there can only be one winner and one runner-up, all finalists get the opportunity to showcase their skills in-person before the judging panel, which can spark new industry connections. This Award – our seventh – will again serve our twinned objectives of promoting and supporting the country’s finest rising directing talent and British regional theatre. We’re proud to be making a difference. – Sir Geoffrey Cass, RTST Chairman and Mark Hawes, Director of the RTST
We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Royal Theatrical Support Trust to provide a career-changing opportunity for a director. We believe that everyone should have access to culture and creative opportunities and that theatre is a vital part of our cultural lives – to do that we need bold directors, with a point of view and who are committed to audiences making work on the mid-scale. We look forward to working with the RTST to meet the future of British theatre.” – Natalie Ibu, Artistic Director of Northern Stage
Previous Winners
The winner of the 2022 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award was Stephen Bailey, with Beth Shouler as the runner-up. As the 2022 Award-winner, Stephen is to direct the UK premiere of The Real & Imagined History of the Elephant Man, opening on 16 Sept 2023 as part of the main season of plays to be staged at Nottingham Playhouse. The production runs at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 7 October before touring to The Grand Theatre, Blackpool and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. Other past Award winners and official runners-up of the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award are, respectively, Denzel Westley-Sanderson and Nathan Crossan-Smith (2021); Anthony Almeida and Maria Crocker (2019); Nancy Medina and Josh Seymour (2018); Chelsea Walker and Tinuke Craig (2017); and Kate Hewitt and Rebecca Frecknall (2016).
How to apply
Entries for the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award Scheme 2023 are now open.
To enter, please apply here.
The RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award opens for entries on Tuesday 11 July 2023 and the closing date for entries is 6.00pm on Monday 18 September 2023.
For further details of the award, please visit the RTST’s website: www.rtst.org.uk.