My first two months as Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio has flown by and I wanted to take a moment to reflect and share the experience so far. This opportunity at the Studio has been made possible through a partnership with National Theatre Wales and will last until July. It’s an incredible place to be based as a director who describes herself as a magpie – open to begging, stealing and borrowing to serve the work.

The Studio has been described as the Laboratory for the National, also as an Ideas factory and even as The MI5 of theatre. The latter being my most favourite description.  There are countless productions that first came into fruition here at the Studio that have made an incredible impact on theatre in Britain.

Each week the corridors (See photo...) are filled with all sorts of props and paraphernalia brought into the three Studio spaces designated for what are called Projects. Then on the serene top floor, you will find writers who are on attachment.

Both projects and attachments can be at varying stages of development with some work having its first exploration and other projects finalising a rehearsal draft of a play that is just about to begin rehearsing.  It is refreshing to see an emerging director working on a project in one space and the soon to be Artistic Director of the National in another both working towards the same goal but at different stages of their careers.

The role of  resident director changes depending on what work is coming in  – the other  week I spent time in a studio with the writer/director and actors on a  play that will go into rehearsal for The Lyttleton later this year and this week I have been planning and casting projects that are about to come in. I'm also planning for a workshop that I'm doing next week with a writer who is currently on attachment – I'm so excited by what we will find in the time that we have to work on it. Having the chance to work with writers in this way is something I really value and learn so much from.

 In the first few weeks of settling in I had a series of catch up meetings with Studio colleagues who generously took the time to explain their role and their ideas about the work of the Studio. One of the recurring thoughts were the need to advocate an environment that protects and fully resources the work allowing it to have the time and space needed to develop.

I can certainly appreciate that space and time in theatre are vital – and not always possible. So often you hear and experience R&D projects that by the nature of the way they are funded (or not in some cases) induce a pressure to show the fruits of our labour before they are ripe for the picking.  

This dilemma got me thinking about what this process does to the development of audiences and their experience.  The Studio isn't oblivious to the fact that  eventually this work will be out there for the public to judge and scrutinise but by having a creative duty of care to the work in its early stages there is a belief that this will in turn be in the best interests of  audiences across the country. I kind of really like that. I wish there was a National Theatre Studio in every region of the United Kingdom.