I was five years old when I told my parents I was going to be a writer. They, being sensible Bradford parents, said ‘don’t be daft’ and suggested I got a ‘proper’ job. So I did. After leaving school, a stint in Leeds Polytechnic’s Law School and finishing my degree with the Open University after being inspired by Educating Rita, I spent 15 years working in personal finance, finishing as a bank manager in London. Then, under initiatives sponsored by New Labour in the early noughties, I moved into primary education, benefitting from new routes into teaching which meant you didn’t have to go back to university or college, and instead you could learn on the job.

So, I switched careers and trained as a primary school teacher, working my way up to Head Teacher over the next 20-odd years. It was rewarding and enjoyable but, when the pandemic struck, I found myself buried under 70 hour weeks. When life returned to normal, these working hours remained much the same, at which point I felt I had done my bit and started thinking about how I could fulfil my childhood dream of being a writer.

Over the years I’d done school productions, writing bits and pieces for kids, but I hadn’t really dedicated any real time to ‘proper’ writing, so I decided to bite the bullet and took early retirement. I was living in Buckinghamshire at the time. So I sold up and moved back North, meaning I could be free from mortgage slavery and where my actuarily sliced pension might just be enough to get by on. That was two-and-a-half years ago. I must admit that, when I left the South-East, I thought I’d be consigning myself to a world of little writers’ groups in the local library – not that they are to be sniffed at, great work goes on in them – and that would be the extent of the opportunities in the North, but when I arrived up here I discovered so much more.

Richard with the ‘Think Again’ writers, a tour of 4 new short plays, including Intersection (other writers Louise Record, Neville Judson & Gareth Rhodes)

Within a couple of months, I became involved with Freedom Studios in Bradford. This led to me getting mentored by Paines Plough through their Tour the Writer scheme, which helped me get a screenwriting mentorship via the Bradford Script Hub, run by New Writing North and The Unit in Keighley, funded by Channel 4. This, in turn, got me onto a Screen Yorkshire development programme as a screenwriter.

All of this showed me that, despite the funding challenges that exist today in the creative world, there are still a heck of a lot of opportunities and resources in the North.

When I lived in the South, everything was very London-centric whereas, up here in West Yorkshire, there are all sorts of theatre companies and arts practitioners working together, supporting one another.

Rehearsals for Intersection (written and directed by Richard D Rhodes)

Alongside the mentorships and writing, I wanted to produce and direct plays: that’s when I got involved with Studio Productions at Bingley Little Theatre. The mentorships helped me realise, pretty quickly, that there was a local need to channel routes into production for new writing. I suggested ITCH, a programme to support new writing and creativity, through Studio Productions. Along the way, my new connections with northern creatives have resulted in some unexpected opportunities, including being a reader for Ann Hamilton’s ‘We Will Sing’, an installation for Bradford 2025 at Salts Mill.

ITCH has now produced several scratch nights, our next being in January; each provides writers with quality R&D feedback, our trick being to get audiences invested in responding to QR-coded surveys. Typically, our Scratch Nights sellout and roughly half of the 80-capacity crowd gives feedback, which is fabulous. Our support for northern script writers (regardless of whether their focus is writing for the stage, screen, audio or beyond) extends to providing regular Lab meetings, in-person and online, which have included input from BBC Writers, amongst others. Supporting new writing and emerging creatives is a passion of mine, as I know it is for Cheryl Martin at Red Ladder. Investing in the future is so important.

Part of what we’re planning for 2026/27 is to focus on developing new, longer pieces of writing and take them into production, possibly on tour if things go well. And even though Bingley Little Theatre operates as an amateur concern, we’re hoping to pay writers for the performance rights of material that goes into production, which would be the same if we bought in pieces to produce. It’s all about helping writers to hone their craft, to create more opportunities and celebrate it as paid, therefore, professional work. Something for the CV if nothing else.

I’ve been back in Yorkshire for less than three years and I have felt welcomed as part of the wider theatrical and creative scene here. I’ve seen some of my own work produced on stage and have been able to help others get a foot on the ladder. Perhaps most importantly, I’ve discovered a friendly arts community that isn’t self-aggrandising but is all about ensuring we have a local theatrical ecosystem that’s not only surviving but thriving.

Richard is a former head teacher, school governor and bank manager. In 2023, having taken early retirement from education, he moved back to West Yorkshire to pursue his childhood dream of being a writer. He has been mentored by Paines Plough as a playwright and by Channel 4, New Writing North & Screen Yorkshire as a screenwriter. He has had work performed at or produced by Leeds Playhouse, Rise & Howl, Lost Fox Productions, Freedom Studios and Bingley Little Theatre, where he chairs Studio Productions and produces the ITCH programme to foster new writing and creativity. He is on the boards of Script Yorkshire, Red Ladder and Rainbow Home, a charity dedicated to supporting LGBT+ asylum seekers.

Image credits in main text Mark Hillyer