Open to Ideas, Capital Theatres’ residency programme, is back for 2026. They are offering two R&D residencies to support Scottish theatremakers to test out new ideas.

They don’t expect you to hold a sharing at the end of the week (though you can if you want to) and they aren’t promising to programme the work in the future. Instead, it’s a genuine offer for you to experiment, explore and get an idea up on its feet. They’re excited by ideas that have something to say about contemporary Scotland, new musicals, devised work, family work, and total theatre stuff with big heart and low tech. They’re less interested in script development, adaptations or remounts of existing texts, abstract academics and magic shows. 

Application Details
Please complete the application form by midnight, Mon 12 Jan 2026. You can complete this with written answers or they also accept a video application. They will let you know whether you are successful or not on Mon 19 January 2026 by email. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch at engage@capitaltheatres.com.

What They Offer

• Five days of rehearsal space at the Studio Theatre, Edinburgh

• Two days of technical support if required

• £2,000 in seed funding

The dates available

• Residency 1: Mon 16 – Fri 20 Feb 2026

• Residency 2: Mon 2 – Fri 6 Mar 2026

Eilgibility criteria

• You must be based in Scotland

• You must have worked on at least one professional production previously. This can include Fringe performances but not university productions or amateur dramatics

• You must not be in receipt of multi year funding from Creative Scotland

• You must be available during your selected residency period

• You must be applying for a new project that has not already been commissioned, produced or coproduced, or staged by another organisation

They will be ring-fencing one of these residencies for someone based in Edinburgh and the Lothians. They’ll also be aiming to support theatre makers at different stages in their career so are interested in applications from both new and more experienced applicants.