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The RTST ran its 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award with The Octagon Theatre in Bolton, and its partners Mercury Theatre in Colchester, Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames and Northern Stage in Newcastle.
The winner of the 2024 Award was Tanuja Amarasuriya, and the joint runners-up were Hannah Stone and Jasmine Teo.
As the 2024 Award-winner, Tanuja Amarasuriya won the opportunity to create a brand-new production on the main stage at the Octagon, in a co-production with Mercury Theatre in Colchester and Rose Theatre in Kingston and in association with Northern Stage in Newcastle.
The chosen title was Noël Coward’s Private Lives. The production opened in September 2025 as part of the autumn season at the Octagon and then toured to the Mercury Theatre, Rose Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Northern Stage.
Bristol-based director and dramaturg, Tanuja is the co-founder of the multi-artform company, Sleepdogs, and is a resident at Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio. She was staff director on the National Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Previous credits include Julius Caesar (Malcolm X Centre/ Bristol Old Vic Theatre School), Absolute Scenes (The Marble Factory/ Bristol Old Vic Theatre School) and the 2018 International Playwriting Prize-winning Out of Sorts (Theatre503).
Winner and Runners-up, L to R: Hannah Stone, joint runner-up; Mark Hawes, Director of the RTST; Tanuja Amarasuriya Award-winner; Sir Geoffrey Cass, RTST Chairman; Jasmine Teo, joint runner-up; and RTST Trustee, Sir Ian McKellen.
The RTST provided a grant of £50,000 to support the costs of the touring production of Private Lives that Tanuja directed as a result of winning the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award.
Private Lives Tour Dates:
The Octagon, Bolton, 4-27 September 2025
Mercury Theatre, Colchester, 1-11 October 2025
Rose Theatre, Kingston, 14-25 October 2025
Bristol Old Vic, Bristol, 28 October- 1 November 2025
Northern Stage, Newcastle, 4-8 November 2025
The joint runners up, Hannah Stone and Jasmin Teo, won mentoring from the Octagon and free rehearsal and R&D space at the Octagon to work on future projects.
The winners and runners-up were selected at the end of a rigorous and competitive process judged by a distinguished panel comprising Chair, Lotte Wakeham (Artistic Director, Octagon Theatre Bolton), Ailin Conant (Artistic Director and Co-CEO, New Earth Theatre), Christopher Haydon (Artistic Director, Rose Theatre), Alex Jennings CBE (actor and RTST Council Member), Iqbal Khan (director & Associate Director of Birmingham Rep), Emily Lim (Associate Artist, National Theatre), Tom Littler (Artistic Director, Orange Tree Theatre) and Natasha Rickman (newly appointed Artistic Director, Mercury Theatre, Colchester).
On winning the 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award, Tanuja Amarasuriya commented: “I am totally thrilled to receive this award. There are so few opportunities for directors to step into mid-scale; so to have the backing of three great theatres across the UK to step up my career is a total game-changer for me. As someone who who didn’t grow up around theatre, who didn’t go to drama school and who has never lived in London, it’s been a long path for me navigating the industry and building my artistic practice – and the RTST have been amazing allies for me over that journey. This year is the sixth application I made to the prize, but even in those “unsuccessful” years, the connections that the RTST enabled me to make have helped me grow and brought me work. I’m absolutely made up that the panel connected with me and my ideas this year, and I can’t wait to kick it all off.”
RTST Chairman Sir Geoffrey Cass said: “The 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award had 8 finalists of the very highest quality, selected from a strong field of some 50 candidates. The winner and joint runners-up were selected after an exacting test of their directing skills over a weekend of Directing Workshops in which they were observed directing actors, and then interviewed, twice, by our judging panel of highly experienced theatre practitioners. The winner’s prize is the exceptional opportunity to direct a mid-scale touring production to be originated on the main stage of The Octagon in Bolton. We are hugely grateful to The Octagon and its Artistic Director Lotte Wakeham and team; The Octagon’s co-producers, Mercury and Rose and their teams; the panellists; and the Workshop actors for their participation in the Award which fulfils the RTST’s twin primary charitable objectives of identifying and promoting the careers of brilliant up-and-coming directors and supporting British regional theatre. We warmly congratulate Tanuja Amarasuriya and the joint runners-up, Hannah Stone and Jasmine Teo”.
Director of the RTST Mark Hawes remarked: “We’re proud and delighted that our 2024 Award is the catalyst for Tanuja Amarasuriya’s regional mid-scale directing debut at The Octagon, Bolton and on tour with Mercury and Rose. This will be the seventh regional mid-scale touring production, and the eighth regional production in total, to be catalysed by our RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award and production grant — again providing a career-transformative experience for the winning director, work for multiple theatre practitioners, and high-quality drama for audiences in different parts of the country. While there can only be one winner, the selection process has also given other hugely talented directors rare and valuable exposure to the influential theatre practitioners who served on the judging panel.”
Artistic Director of the Octagon Theatre Bolton Lotte Wakeham added:“The standard of all of the finalist candidates was incredibly high, but I’m delighted that the panel has chosen Tanuja as the overall winner of this prestigious award. Tanuja really impressed the panel with her detailed application and her impressive CV of studio-scale work. We were particularly taken with her thoughtfulness and ingenuity in approaching classic texts in an innovative and fresh way for modern audiences. I have no doubt that she will direct an exceptional midscale production for us in autumn 2025, and I’m hugely excited to work with her. I’m also really pleased that we have identified two incredibly talented runners up – Hannah Stone and Jasmine Teo – both of whom really impressed the panel with their directing skills and brilliant ideas.”
The other five shortlisted candidates for the 2024 Award were Nicky Allpress, Matthew Iliffe, Andy Routledge, Blythe Stewart, Alex Sutton
On the 11 May 2025, the Award and RTST’s work for British Theatre was celebrated at a reception held atop the Swan beside Shakespeares’ Globe, and co-hosted by the RTST Chairman, Sir Geoffrey Cass, RTST Trustee Sir Ian McKellen and RTST Council Member Alex Jennings CBE.
The reception was attended by many leading names in British Theatre and representatives of numerous regional theatres, as well as many early-career actors and creatives.
Musical entertainment was provided by Olivier Award-winning actor and singer Maimuna Memon, accompanied on the cello by actor-musician, Rachel Barnes.
INFORMATION THAT WAS SUPPLIED TO CANDIDATES:
The annual RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award is designed:
- to provide an up-and-coming director with a first-time, career-breakthrough opportunity to originate and direct, as sole or lead director, a fully-funded production as part of a main season of plays on the main stage of a mid-scale British regional theatre and to take that production on tour to other mid-scale regional theatres, and
- to provide grant support for the creation of that production.
The name of the Award honours the memory of the RTST’s co-founder Sir Peter Hall.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is commonly recognised in the theatre industry that the opportunities for directors to progress from directing on the small-scale to directing on the mid-scale are rare. This Award scheme is designed for directors who already have a track-record of professional on-stage directing experience and who aspire to originate and direct their own production on the mid-scale but have not yet had the opportunity to do so. The Award creates such an opportunity. It does not, however, circumvent the need for a director to have sufficient prior professional experience to be judged ready to take on the considerable challenges of originating and directing a mid-scale production for their first time – that being a production whose creation will involve significant expenditure by the participating theatres and the RTST. For that reason, the Award Rules stipulate strict minimum criteria regarding professional experience that candidates must satisfy in order to be eligible to enter.
How the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award 2024 Works
We are particularly keen to see candidates from a diversity of backgrounds, interests and needs.
We welcome entries from parents and carers who need to balance their caring responsibilities with their working lives.
For any candidate requiring access support, information on how we can help is provided (under the heading of “Accessibility”) in the “Rules and Information” mentioned below.
The RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award opened for entries on 23 July 2024 and the closing date for entries was 6.00pm on Monday, 2 September 2024.
Candidates wishing to enter had to submit a completed Entry Form.
Candidates were invited to pitch their ideas for directing a production that will bring together a range of exciting practitioners to create an imaginative, engaging and popular production for the widest possible range of audience members. Candidates could choose a classic or modern play (in the English language), or an existing adaptation (in the English language) of a novel or film. The candidate’s ideas for their chosen play must demonstrate their artistic potential and the potential of their production to have substantial box-office appeal to audiences comprising new as well as existing audience members. With the audience in mind, we encouraged candidates to consider what sort of play might provide an audience with a “great night out”, and we particularly welcomed suggestions of well-known dramas, comedies and/or thrillers.
While it may be possible that the play directed by the Award-winner will be the play that is the subject of their entry, this outcome cannot be guaranteed owing to a variety of factors, such as: availability of rights; pre-arranged or historical programming at The Octagon, Rose Theatre, and Mercury Theatre; and/or new ideas arising from the creative relationship struck between the winning director and The Octagon and its partners. Candidates were therefore invited to propose, in brief terms, other play options; however, please understand that the Award-winner might ultimately direct a play that was not one of those they initially proposed. In 2023, the play directed by the 2022 winner was the play featured in their entry; in other years, the play ultimately directed by the winner has not been one featured in their entry; but, in every case, the play ultimately directed has been chosen by mutual agreement between the winner and the producing theatre.
Entries were considered by the RTST with the assistance of The Octagon with a view to producing a Long-list of up to 20 entries.
The Long-list was submitted for consideration by a Selection Panel comprising (Chair) Lotte Wakeham, Artistic Director, The Octagon Theatre; Ailin Conant, director representing Mercury Theatre for this purpose (Ailin is Artistic Director, New Earth Theatre); Christopher Haydon, Artistic Director, Rose Theatre; Alex Jennings CBE, actor; Iqbal Khan, director; Emily Lim, Director of Public Acts, National Theatre; Tom Littler, Artistic Director, Orange Tree Theatre and Natasha Rickman (newly appointed Artistic Director, Mercury Theatre, Colchester).
This 2024 Selection Panel was different from previous years. Except for Christopher Haydon, none of the Panellists had previously served on a Selection Panel for the Award.
The Selection Panel selected a Short-list of up to eight candidates.
Short-listed candidates were invited to Director Workshops in London on the weekend of Saturday 19 and Sunday, 20 October 2024, at which they were required to demonstrate their skills by directing actors in a text-based scene of a play, after which they were interviewed by the Selection Panel. The particular scene was settled with candidates in advance of the Workshops. The Selection Panel observed the Workshops.
On the second day of the Workshops, up to four finalists were selected for a further interview, this being the final stage in the selection process.
The Selection Panel chose the ultimate Award winner and official Runner-up, who was publicly announced after the Workshops.
Although there can only be one Award-winner and one official Runner-up, the Award scheme is designed to provide a positive and meaningful professional experience for all the candidates who are selected for participation in the Workshops. They all received constructive feedback from the Selection Panel after the winner of the Award was announced.
It is intended that the Award winner will benefit from the spotlight of publicity generated by the promotional activities of the RTST and The Octagon and its co-producers in relation to the Award and the Production.
The winner’s success was be celebrated at an Award ceremony in London organised by the RTST, to which leading theatre practitioners will be invited.
The winner’s Production will be staged in autumn 2025. The Award winner will not be required to seek funding for the Production. The RTST has agreed to make a grant of £50,000 to The Octagon to be applied towards its costs of staging the Production. It is a condition of the grant that The Octagon participates in the Award scheme and facilitates the Production. While the RTST’s contribution is significant, the majority of the costs of the Production will, however, be borne by The Octagon, Rose Theatre and Mercury Theatre.
The Award winner will be the sole director of the Production and will be paid a fee of £8,000 plus expenses by The Octagon for undertaking this role. The Production’s cast and stage crew will be paid at the prevailing UK Theatre rates or higher.
The official Runner-up will receive mentoring and professional support from The Octagon.
For the rules of, and information about how to enter, the 2024 Award scheme, please visit our Rules & Information page.
The RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award scheme is run by the RTST, a registered charity, in fulfilment of its charitable objects. All of the RTST’s work in setting up and running the Award scheme to provide this unique career opportunity for directors and the associated catalytic production grant to a theatre company – in this case, The Octagon – is undertaken by the Director of the RTST and the other Trustees and volunteers for no remuneration. The members of the Panel who are freelancers or acting in a personal capacity are offered fees. The actors who participate in the Director Workshops are paid fees. The production grant made by the RTST pursuant to the Award scheme is provided out of its charitable funds, which derive wholly from donations to the RTST.