Roisin McCay-Hines

Roisin is a Cornish director, predominantly working with new writing and adaptations. Her productions strike a balance between delicacy and dynamism, and often centralise stories that are rooted in the place they belong to. She is keen to engage regional artists and audiences through her work. Roisin is a graduate of the MA Directing at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and a first-class alumna of the University of Exeter, where she read English literature and Drama. She has additionally trained with the JMK, Young Vic and Exeter Northcott Theatre.

Recent directing credits include No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution (Wardrobe Theatre), GAMBIT (Exeter Northcott), Adrift (Hall for Cornwall, R&D), Mrs Buscome’s Brown Betty (Kneehigh). Recent credits as associate/assistant director include Further Than the Furthest Thing (Minack Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Malcolm X Centre), Off Your Chest (Salisbury Playhouse), The Triumphant Sea (Royal Shakespeare Company, Playmaking Festival) and Marthusow ha Mysteris (Hall for Cornwall/O-Region).

As a playwright, Roisin has trained with Cavas Theatre and on the Bill’s Attic Residency (Wildworks Theatre), as well as running her own new writing company, Write On, through which she has presented work at the G7 summit. In 2020 Roisin was shortlisted for BBC New Creatives with her radio drama Cross the Tamar: The Path Less Trodden, and she debuted her play GAMBIT in 2021 through the Exeter Northcott Theatre. As a producer she has developed and delivered work for the Salisbury International Arts Festival, Falmouth International Arts Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Tresorys Kernow project and Poltimore Festival, where she co-founded the Shakespeare in Bloom initiative. Roisin is a trustee for the Youth Arts and Health Trust.

Roisin has recently been awarded the Shakespeare at Tobacco Factory Fund 2023, which she is using to support her upcoming production of Life Before You at the Alma Theatre.

She/Her

Credits

Director (highlights):

Life Before You, Alma Theatre, 2023

A Bomb We Called Sam, Bristol Old Vic Studio, 2023

8pm Love Heart, Christchurch Studios (short film), 2023

No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution, Wardrobe Theatre, 2023

The Angel of Pontefract, Christchurch Studios (radio), 2023

Who The F*ck is Nigel?, Spielman Studio, 2022

Gambit, Exeter Northcott, 2021

Mrs Buscombe’s Brown Betty: The Best in all St Austell Bay, Kneehigh, 2021

Not One More (Co-Directed with Ruan Evans), Roborough Studios, 2019



Associate/Assistant Director (highlights):

Further Than the Furthest Thing (Assistant to Sita-Calvert Ennals), Minack Theatre, 2023

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant to Paul Chesterton), Malcolm X Centre, 2023

Off Your Chest (Associate to Claire Threadgold), Salisbury Playhouse, 2022

Marthusow ha Mysteris (Assistant to Simon Harvey), Hall for Cornwall / O-Region (tour), 2021

Cloud Twenty Twenty (Associate to Kara Reilly), In[cite] Theatre (radio), 2020

Macbeth (Associate to Thomas Draper and Matt Smith), Poltimore Festival, 2019

The Remarkables (Musical) (Associate & Dramaturg to Matt Smith and Sean Wearing), Greenside, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019

Mary’s Room (Associate & Dramaturg to Ana Lacey), The Space, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019

Angelus (Associate & Dramaturg to Roshi Cowen and Meg Shepherd), London Theatre Workshop, 2018



Directing R&D / WIP / Rehearsed Readings (highlights):

Orca, Minack Theatre, 2023

The Velveteen Rabbit, Spielman Studio, 2023

Adrift (working title), Hall for Cornwall, 2022

Mermaids (Musical) (Assistant to Jenifer Fletcher and Harry Blake), Northwall Arts Centre / Taunton Brewhouse / AMATA, 2022

Unsung, MakeTank, 2021



Directing Young People (highlights):

Detectives, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Young Artists, 2023

Much Ado About Nothing, Hall for Cornwall Young Company / Dance Company, 2022

How St Kea Got His Lands, Hall for Cornwall Young Company, 2021

The Curing of Constantine, Hall for Cornwall Young Company, 2021

The Triumphant Sea (Assistant to Sam Colborne), Royal Shakespeare Company (Playmaking Festival), 2021

Training

MA Drama Directing, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
BA English and Drama, University of Exeter
JMK Residency
Exeter Northcott Future Artists Programme
New Artist Network, Hall for Cornwall