Theatre
Rio is a freelance theatre director, dramaturg and practitioner, as well as the New Works Co-Ordinator at the Everyman and Playhouse in Liverpool. Her work as a director and researcher is heavily informed by her experiences in adaptation, her personal history of dance and movement training, and her political beliefs as an intersectional feminist. She has directed for the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Unity, and Municipal Theatre London, and as an assistant director has worked with Tom Morris, Gemma Bodinetz, Nick Bagnall, Matthew Linley and Dritero Kasapi, for theatres including the Young Vic, Bristol Old Vic, and the Traverse. She has also researched and published for companies including Headlong, and is a Senior Reader for Hampstead theatre. She most recently directed a production of Romeo and Juliet for the Rubbish Shakespeare Company, which toured the North West in 2018, before playing at the Pleasance in Edinburgh.
Nina: A Story About Me and Nina Simone
★★★★ TimeOut
★★★★ The Stage
★★★★ The Guardian
★★★★ The Times
Unity & Riksteatern Co-Production with Young Vic Assistant Director
Devised by Josette Bushell-Mingo and Dritero Kasapi
Fanny and Faggot
★★★★ Liverpool Sound and Vision
"superb...the story of those dark days in the 1960’s North-East still has the power to shock"
A LUDS Production Director
By Jack Thorne
L'Etranger
★★★★ Liverpool Sound and Vision
"utterly charming...nothing short of remarkable"
A Young Everyman Playhouse Production Director
By Albert Camus, adapted by Rio Matchett and Luke Barton
Directing
May 2018-August 2018 'Romeo and Juliet’
North West Tour, The Rubbish Shakespeare Company
April 2015 - March 2018 ‘Nina: A Story About Me and Nina Simone’
Devised by Josette Bushell-Mingo and Dritero Kasapi
(Resident Director UK tour/ Assistant Director to Dritero Kasapi for R&D)
Young Vic, London/Traverse, Edinburgh
Young Vic, Unity, Liverpool. Riksteatern/National Tour, Sweden
September 2016 ‘Maggie and Rene’
Research and Development
Unity Liverpool
March 2016 ‘I am the Monster’
Anders Lustgarten
(Assistant Director to Matthew Linley)
Research and Development
Unity, Liverpool
October 2015 ‘You are Lennon’
Patrick Maguire
Ace Drama
Unity, Liverpool
May 2015 ‘Misterman’
Enda Walsh
Young Everyman and Playhouse
The Playhouse Studio, Liverpool
December 2014 ‘Madame Bovary’
Gustav Flaubert
(Assistant Director to Tom Morris and Gemma Bodinetz)
Research and Development week
The Everyman and Playhouse, Bristol Old Vic, Peepolykus
October 2014 ‘Wonderland'
Luke Barnes’
(Assistant Director to Nick Bagnall)
Rehearsed Reading for the Everyword Festival
The Everyman and Playhouse
The Playhouse, Liverpool
October 2014 ‘Workhouse Ward’
Lady Gregory
The Liverpool Irish Festival
The Lantern Theatre, Liverpool
June 2014 ‘L’Etranger’
Albert Camus (Adapted by Rio Matchett and Luke Barton)
Young Everyman and Playhouse
Studio Ev1, The Everyman, Liverpool
August 2013 ‘Cain’
Lord Byron
Municipal Theatre London
Lantern Theatre Liverpool; The Space @ Jury’s Inn, Edinburgh
August 2012 ‘Happy’
Igor Memic
Municipal Theatre London
The Lantern Theatre, Liverpool; Oxford House, London;
Greenside Studios, Edinburgh
Research/Publications
July 2016 ‘Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme’
Headlong Theatre
Article Title: ‘Beyond Language’
https://headlong.co.uk/ideas/beyond-language/
Dramaturgy
February-May 2017 ‘In the Millennial Dome’
Alex Ferguson
Alex and Gears Co.
Community Theatre
July 2015 ‘Easy Virtue’
Liverpool Network Theatre
Movement Director
April 2015 ‘The Blueroom Project’
Tmesis and The Bluecoat Liverpool
Facilitator for Adults with disabilities
March 2015 ‘Dracula’
Liverpool Network Theatre
Fight Choreographer
March 2011 ‘Twelfth Night’
Anston Hillcrest Primary School
Director
