Rachel Bagshaw Joins UK Theatre Board As Unicorn Theatre Artistic Director
Artistic Director of Unicorn Theatre and advocate for access and young audiences takes new leadership role.
Rachel Bagshaw, Artistic Director and Co-CEO of the Unicorn Theatre, has joined the Board of UK Theatre.
Bagshaw assumed the role of Artistic Director at the Unicorn in 2023, following her tenure as Associate Director from 2018 to 2023. Alongside her work at the Unicorn, she has collaborated with organizations including Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Exchange Theatre, Graeae Theatre Company, and The Royal Court Theatre.
Her production The Shape of Pain received a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was later revived at Battersea Arts Centre in 2018. She has also held positions as an Associate at The National Theatre through the Peter Hall Bursary and as a trustee for Battersea Arts Centre and Camden People’s Theatre.
SOLT & UK Theatre Co-CEOs Claire Walker and Hannah Essex said: “We are delighted to welcome Rachel to the UK Theatre Board and look forward to collaborating closely with her. Her passion and dedication to audience development and ensuring that theatre is accessible to everyone, everywhere will be a tremendous asset to the work of UK Theatre.”
Bagshaw added: “I am delighted to be joining the Board of UK Theatre. As the Artistic Director of the Unicorn, the UK home of theatre for young audiences, I believe that accessible, sustainable and hopeful theatre can transform lives; live storytelling is vital to our world. I look forward to working with my fellow Board members to support our sector to inspire audiences nationwide and, in doing so, pave the way for theatre's thinkers and makers of the future.”
Bagshaw has directed numerous productions at the Unicorn Theatre, including Odd and the Frost Giant, I Wish, The Wolf, The Duck and the Mouse, The Bee in Me, and Aesop’s Fables. Her wider directing credits include The Duchess of Malfi at Shakespeare’s Globe, A Dead Body in Taos at Bristol Old Vic and Wilton’s Music Hall, and Midnight Movie at The Royal Court Theatre.
She has also worked extensively in engagement and theatre for young people and is a long-time advocate for improving access for disabled audiences, artists, and workers across the theatre sector.
ABOUT UK THEATRE
UK Theatre is a membership organization representing theatre producers, managers, owners, and operators across the UK, spanning both commercial and subsidized sectors. The organization works in partnership with the Society of London Theatre to support a sustainable and dynamic theatre industry.
ABOUT UNICORN THEATRE
The Unicorn Theatre creates theatre experiences for audiences up to age 13, welcoming more than 60,000 families and schools annually, as well as additional audiences through touring and digital programming. Through its Creative Hub, the organization collaborates with children and young people to shape and inform its productions.
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