Resident Directors
The Almeida Theatre’s Resident Director programme offers directors in the early stages of their career the opportunity to work closely with the theatre in all aspects of the artistic programme, to gain experience through access to the resources provided by the Almeida, and to widen their artistic network. For each of our productions, the director will select a Resident Director from the programme who will support the production process from first rehearsals to public performance. Alongside the opportunity to assist, members of the programme will take part in script readings and workshops led by Almeida creatives, and lead projects for Almeida Participation during their residency.
The Almeida is grateful to the Eranda Rothschild Foundation, The Garrick Charitable Trust, Idlewild Trust, Gregory Nasmyth and Samantha Rowe-Beddoe for its support of the Resident Director programme.
Current Resident Directors
Jamie Armitage
Robert Awosusi
Atri Banerjee
Ebenezer Bamgboye
Jack Bradfield
TD Moyo
Sammy J Glover
Emily Ling-Williams
Lucy McCann
Tamar Saphra
Jamie Armitage
Jamie is a Junior Associate at the King’s Head Theatre. He co-directed the musical SIX which is currently running at the Arts Theatre and has been nominated for six WhatsOnStage awards. His upcoming project is a double-bill of Tennessee Williams’ one-act plays at the King’s Head Theatre.
Directing credits include: SIX (West End, UK Tour, Chicago); Southern Belles; And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens (King's Head Theatre); Love Me Now (Tristan Bates Theatre); Spoonface Steinberg (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Richard II (Emmauel Chapel); Footlights Pantomime: Robin Hood, and Henry IV Part 1 (ADC Theatre).
As Associate: The Boys in the Band (West End).
As Assistant: The Madness of George III (Nottingham Playhouse and NT Live); Out of Order (UK Tour), Platinum (Hampstead Theatre); The Boys in the Band (Park Theatre & UK Tour).
Robert Awosusi
Robert is a director and theatremaker interested in using his work to provoke and uplift his audiences.
Currently he is the assistant director for Kiln Theatre's Young Company.
Robert has trained through the Young Vic's director's programme, and was the Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Director on The Trial. Robert was also artistic associate on METIS' participatory installation We Know Not What We May Be at The Barbican.
Credits include: Our Tower (Arcola Theatre); The Derek Smith Show (Mountview); phroot sahlad (The North Wall / Lyric Hammersmith/ Camden People's Theatre); Lockout (Theatrecraft / The North Wall); Roost (Theatrecraft / The North Wall), The Lost (Young Vic).
Robert is on the Advisory Board for Boundless Theatre, and is currently on the Board Shadowing Programme run by Artistic Directors of the Future.
Ebenezer Bamgboye
Ebenezer is a graduate of the University of St Andrews, following which; he trained as a director at the Young Vic on their Introduction to Directing course. The course culminated in him directing a scene from Katherine Soper’s Wish List in the Clare Studio.
As a Director, theatre includes:
Over Saravejo; (Rapid Write Response piece-Theatre 503); Black Spring (The Barron Theatre)
As a Director, upcoming projects include:
The Book of Actions (Camden People’s Theatre) for theatre company Nouveau Riche; Philistines (Engine Room piece-Omnibus Theatre)
As an Assistant Director, theatre includes:
Sleeping Beauty Dir. Matthew Xia (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Steel Dir. Rebecca Frecknall (Sheffield Crucible).
Ebenezer has also worked as an Assistant Director for the National Youth Theatre on masterclasses and intake courses on a number of occasions. Furthermore, he is one of the eleven Board Shadowers recently appointed by Artistic Directors of the Future to shadow the boards of all five major theatres in Yorkshire. In addition, he works at the Omnibus Theatre as the Assistant Practitioner for their Young Company.
Atri Banerjee
As director, theatre includes: Utopia; Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange Theatre).
As associate director, theatre includes: The Nico Project (Manchester International Festival/ Melbourne International Arts Festival); West Side Story (Royal Exchange Theatre); The Mysteries (Royal Exchange Theatre & Tour); Jubilee (Royal Exchange Theatre/ Lyric Hammersmith).
As assistant director, theatre includes: The Son (Kiln Theatre); Happy Days; The Almighty Sometimes; Our Town (Royal Exchange Theatre).
Atri trained at Birkbeck and was previously Trainee Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre. He won The Stage Debut Award 2019 for Best Director for Hobson’s Choice.
Jack Bradfield
Jack is Artistic Director of Poltergeist, and trained on the Royal Court Writers’ Group 2017. Poltergeist are an Associate Company at the North Wall, and in 2018 were listed in the Guardian as one of the UK’s Best Young Theatre Companies.
His new piece, Art Heist, is recipient of the Untapped Award 2019, and will be touring this Autumn. He is also winner of the Samuel French New Play Award 2018.
Previous work as writer and director includes: Lights Over Tesco Car Park (New Diorama, HOME, North Wall, The Pleasance), Garden (North Wall), The White Guard (Albion Beatnik Bookstore) and xx (kiss kiss) (Edinburgh Fringe).
Lucy Grace McCann
Lucy Grace McCann is a theatre director from London. Lucy studied at Warwick University and specialised in Shakespeare and the British Dramatic Tradition.
Her latest premiere production of A Tinder Trilogy by Annie Jenkins, performed to sold out audiences at the Camden Fringe Festival. Furthering her interest in new writing, Lucy has collaborated with playwrights Kelly Jones, Fergus Church and Georgina Burns on new short plays for events including Little Pieces of Gold. Lucy was previously Director in Residence at Magdalen College School, the Oxford Playhouse and Surbiton High School. Alongside directing, Lucy leads youth theatre sessions for JASSPA, having previously worked for the youth theatre teams at the Warwick Arts Centre and the Rose Theatre, Kingston.
Sammy Glover
Sammy’s theatre work is focused on platforming young people’s experience, staging unheard or marginalised voices and improving access in the arts through exciting, form interrogating and site-specific theatre.
In 2017-2018 Sammy was the Associate Director of The Big House, working with care leavers and at risk young people between the ages of 16-25, empowering young people through theatre.
As Associate: Phoenix Rising which took place in the underground of Smithfield Meatmarket was nominated for 3 OFFIE Awards and Sammy later directed Katherine Soper’s (Bruntwood Playwright Winner) Loose Lips in a site-specific production in the derelict offices of Stoke Newington Town Hall. In 2016 Sammy was nominated for a Brighton Fringe Excellence Award for Circleville, CircleValley at The Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe. During her time at University, Sammy revived the renowned Experimental Theatre Club, directing the first piece of new writing at a professional theatre and was given the Juliet Bernard Prize for her work before touring in Oxford, London and Edinburgh.
Emily Ling Williams
Emily is part of the Fresh Direction group at the Young Vic and previously the Trainee Director at Paines Plough.
As Director, credits include: Preach (Hoxton Hall/Rose Bruford); Turbines (Paines Plough/RWCMD/Gate Theatre); Lungs (extract) (Young Vic).
As Assistant Director, credits include: The Apology (Yellow Earth/NT Studio); The Meeting; The Chalk Garden (Chichester Festival Theatre); Out of Love; Black Mountain; How To Be A Kid (Paines Plough/Orange Tree/Theatr Clwyd); The Island Nation (Arcola Theatre).
Moyo is a director, teacher, performer and South London activist with a Masters in Contemporary Performance Practice from the University of Kent.
She believes in theatres capacity for social reform and is the Artistic director of Mwarsha Featre, a community based theatre company for emerging work and social engagement. She has directed and produced shows at the Lyric Hammersmith, The Courtyard and The Actors Center.
Tamar Saphra
Tamar is a director and a dramaturg and works closely with playwrights to develop new plays. She trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and is currently a script reader at the National Theatre, the Almeida and the Bruntwood Prize, and has previously been a reader for the Papatango Prize and the Bush Theatre. Tamar regularly experiments across artistic form, collaborating with artists, composers and writers on interdisciplinary projects. Much of her recent directing and assisting work creatively integrates disabled and D/deaf access, exploring it as a practical and an artistic layer in the theatre-making process.
As director, credits include: The Noises (Old Red Lion, April 2019); After Violence (Sutton House/Dulwich Picture Gallery); What Happened To You? (Bunker, R&D); No. 152 (Arcola); Pig Watch (Arcola); Haste Ye Back (Arcola).
As assistant director, credits include: Ewelina's Crying (by Anna Karasinska, Yard Theatre); Midnight Movie (by Eve Leigh, dir. Rachel Bagshaw, Bush); Augmented (by Sophie Woolley, dir. Rachel Bagshaw, Ovalhouse).
