SOME THOUGHTS ON R&D

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Thursday 30th July 2026

The first being a reminder that many people don’t use the term R&D in their work, so when you’re talking to your friends just check that they know what it stands for.

(It stands for Research and Development, by the way)

(And it’s become a singular quasi-noun – you do ‘an R&D’.)

(Yuk.)

It’s rare now to be involved with a theatre project that doesn’t have some form of R&D. Indeed, there have been periods in my professional life when all that I seemed to do was funded R&D for projects that never happened. R&D can take many forms. In the last twelve months I have used it to explore whether an idea that works brilliantly for ten minutes can sustain a full hour long show (Backwards Man with Rosie Nicholls); whether mime, Makaton, and live Foley can exist in the same show (Not Now, Bernard with Rooustabout); and whether a class sized group of young people in a public library can engage successfully with a practical research task set by two fictional characters (Roustabout again – we haven’t given this show a name yet!).

I was asked recently for some top tips on planning R&D activity, and below is what I came up with, in no particular order.

You are not making the show! I know that you are desperate to get started, but your R&D process is about understanding your idea so that you can articulate it more clearly to other people; identifying (maybe even solving) some of the challenges and opportunities you will encounter in rehearsals; and trying things out in a safe, playful environment where inevitable failure can only have a positive impact on the future production.

Before you start work out what questions you want your activity to address. Be really precise with the questions. If possible, try to separate the questions from each other, so that you are only investigating one at a time. Answering the questions systematically will determine your timetable, tell you how to use your resources, and point to what sort of approach you are going to take.

You are not making the show!

Don’t second guess the answers, and try every possible solution no matter how pointless it first appears. You never know. However, also have the confidence to say ‘Well, that’s rubbish – let’s try something else!’

Never agree to an end your R&D showing unless you specifically need to trial something with a live audience. The pressure of trying to create a decent performance skews everything. If you need to give feedback to funders etc, it could always be a presentation of your findings. I have made this mistake so many times, and each time I have regretted it.

When working with audiences, or actors, or other creatives, and asking for their feedback, be precise in your questions to them, and let people know what they are before they meet any of the work. This stops hours of meaningless, ill-informed and opinionated feedback.

Tailor the feedback you are asking for to each person's specialism - eg ask actors about how the words feel in the mouth, the audience about the clarity of story, lighting designers about lighting opportunities you may have missed etc etc.

If you can afford to get a designer in for some or all of it, to offer feedback and thoughts from a visual perspective, it's invaluable.

Because of the theatre I make, a lot of my R&D work is with young people. More on this another day... If you are working with young people, try not to be a teacher and deliver a lesson. Instead, approach them as fellow professionals with a particular specialism. Make sure to explain what an R&D is, why you need their help specifically, and how their input might affect the finished piece. You may even have to explain how theatre works and plays are made.

And that was it. It seemed to be useful to the person who asked me, although I’m sure I missed a lot...

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If you’re reading this, it means that I have finally lost my game of digital hide-and-seek. You’ve found me.

22nd July 2026

Since working in theatre, I have always had a distrust of directors who approach a play with a big idea – ‘The Tempest is about control, Prospero coercively controls the narrative and characters, and so I will set my production in a circus ring with Prospero as ringmaster.’