The Royal Theatrical Support Trust And Royal & Derngate Northampton Invite Entries For The RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award 2018

The Royal Theatrical Support Trust (RTST) and Royal & Derngate Northampton are delighted to announce that the 2018 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award Scheme is now open for entries.

Now in its third year, and its second bearing the name of the RTST co-founder, Sir Peter Hall, the award will be made to an up-and-coming director who demonstrates exceptional directing skills in a rigorous competitive process.

The winner will get the opportunity to direct a full-scale, fully funded production of a classic or modern play (which may be an existing play or a new adaptation of a novel or film), to open in 2019 on the Royal Stage, as part of Made In Northampton, in a co-production between Royal & Derngate and English Touring Theatre (ETT), and then tour to theatres across the UK. The RTST will make a grant of £50,000 to Royal & Derngate to be applied towards the costs of the winner's production.

The Scheme promotes the RTST's charitable objects in two main ways: it supports emerging talent in the theatre and it supports British regional theatres. The Scheme is intended to appeal to a diverse range of candidates and to play a part in promoting diversity in the theatre, onstage and offstage, and among audiences.

The winning director will be chosen by a Selection Panel comprising: chair James Dacre (Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate), and judges Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE (Artistic Director of the Young Vic); Olivier Award-nominees Tanya Moodie and Samantha Bond; Olivier Award-winner Dame Harriet Walter; Jenny Sealey MBE (Artistic Director of Graeae and Co-Director of The London Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony); four-times Olivier Award-winner Paule Constable (Associate, National Theatre); and Richard Twyman (Artistic Director of English Touring Theatre).

To enter for the Scheme, a candidate must be UK resident and be able to demonstrate a professional track record as a director and satisfy certain other criteria. Each candidate is required to submit, in writing, ideas for directing a play of their choosing. Short-listed candidates are required to participate in directing workshops with actors - observed by the Selection Panel - in order to demonstrate their directing skills before a final interview stage.

Chair of the RTST, Sir Geoffrey Cass, said: "We're doubly-delighted that Royal & Derngate is collaborating with us on the 2018 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award and that English Touring Theatre is bringing a UK tour dimension to this scheme for the second year running. The 2016 and 2017 Award winners and official runners-up - Kate Hewitt and Rebecca Frecknall (2016); and Chelsea Walker and Tinuke Craig (2017) - are having tremendous success, which augurs well for the winner of this year's Award."

The RTST ran the inaugural RTST Director Award scheme in 2016 with Sheffield Theatres, with the winner Kate Hewitt directing the British regional premiere of Tribes by Nina Raine. The RTST ran the re-named 2017 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award Scheme with Nuffield Southampton Theatres resulting in the winner Chelsea Walker directing a bold contemporary version of Tennessee Williams', A Streetcar Named Desire, in a co-production between NST, Theatre Clywd and English Touring Theatre, which recently opened at NST City in Southampton and is now on tour to seven other theatres.

Entries for the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award Scheme 2018 are now open. To enter, and for further details of the award, please visit the RTST's website: www.rtst.org.uk. The closing date for entries is 6pm on Monday 4 June 2018.