Rachel Bagshaw
Selected credits
- The Duchess of MalfiSam Wanamaker Playhouse, The Globe
- A Dead Body in TaosFuel Theatre/ Bristol Old Vic/ Wilton's Music Hall
- Greek Myths UnpluggedUnicorn Theatre/ Online
- The Bee In MeUnicorn Theatre
- Midnight MovieRoyal Court Theatre
- The Shape of the PainChina Plate/Edinburgh Fringe/BAC/UK Tour
- HamletYoung Vic
- The Rhinestone RollersGraeae
About
Rachel is an award-winning stage director. She is currently the Artistic Director of Unicorn Theatre, after being Associate Director from 2018 to 2023. She was a recipient of the National Theatre Peter Hall Bursary for 2023/24.
Rachel will make her directorial debut at the Globe Theatre in 2024 directing The Duchess of Malfi on the Sam Wanamaker stage.
Recent productions include A Dead Body in Taos (Bristol Old Vic/ Wilton’s Music Hall), Augmented by Sophie Woolley (Royal Exchange/Told by an Idiot) and Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales for Unicorn Theatre Online. Other work includes The Bee in Me and Aesop’s Fables (Unicorn Theatre), Midnight Movie (Royal Court Theatre). Her critically acclaimed work The Shape of Pain won a Fringe First at Edinburgh, was revived at Battersea Arts Centre in 2018. Other productions include Resonance at the Still Point of Change (Unlimited Festival, South Bank Centre), The Rhinestone Rollers and Just Me, Bell (Graeae). Film includes Let Loose (Unicorn Theatre Online/ENB) and Where I Go (When I Can’t be Where I Am (BBC/China Plate).
She is an Associate Artist at Wilton’s and works extensively in engagement and young people’s work.
Featured work
The Duchess of Malfi
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, The Globe
Director: Rachel Bagshaw
Writer: John Webster
In a rigid, male-dominated world, how far does a woman have to go to protect those she loves the most? And what desperate measures will the men in her life take to control her story?
Award-winning Director Rachel Bagshaw (Midnight Movie, Royal Court) makes her Globe directorial debut with this ground-breaking anniversary production of Webster’s violent tale of misogyny and deceit.
A Dead Body in Taos
Writer: David Farr
Director: Rachel Bagshaw
Designer: Ti Green
Lighting Design: Katy Morison
Video Design: Sarah Readman
‘Rachel Bagshaw’s staging is brilliantly lucid’ ★★★★ Timeout
‘an existential mystery exploring what constitutes humanness and how we can be truly free’ ★★★★ The Guardian
★★★★ Financial Times
★★★★ The Stage
Greek Myths Unplugged
Unicorn Theatre Online
Directed by the Unicorn Theatre’s Associate Director Rachel Bagshaw, the films reinvent and reimagine the original myths enabling pupils to explore the resonances of Greek Myths to today’s world anew.
Midnight Movie
The Royal Court Theatre/Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Written by Eve Leigh
Design: Cecile Tremolieres
Lighting & Video Design:
Josh Pharo & Sarah Readman
Sound: Nwando Ebizie
Photo by Helen Murray
“Human bodies and communication styles are unlimited in Midnight Movie, and Bagshaw’s direction recognises this fact and embraces it.”
★★★★★ BroadwayBaby
The Shape of the Pain
Produced by China Plate
Developed by Rachel Bagshaw
& Chris Thorpe
Written by Chris Thorpe
Design: Madeleine Girling
Video & Lighting Design: Josh Pharo
Composer: Melanie Wilson
Photo by Richard Lakos
Edinburgh Fringe First Winner 2017
★★★★ Guardian
★★★★ Sunday Times
★★★★ British Theatre Guide