The Unicorn Theatre announces the appointment of Rachel Bagshaw as the theatre’s new Artistic Director. Rachel will take up the position in September, taking over from Justin Audibert, who steps down as Artistic Director this summer.
Rachel Bagshaw said, ‘I am absolutely thrilled to be taking up the role of Artistic Director at the Unicorn. Having had the privilege to have been an Associate Director here during Justin’s tenure, I cannot wait to continue bringing the brave, bold and exciting work to children and their grown-ups.
The Unicorn is a vital, inspiring theatre that provides thousands of children with their first theatre experiences each year, and where I have had some of my most creative and happiest times as an artist. I look forward to working with the incredible team, including the young Creative Associates from our partner schools and community groups, to support artists to develop and thrive in making work for young audiences. Most importantly, I am so honoured at the opportunity to hold conversations with the Unicorn’s extraordinary audiences and spark their imaginations and ideas through theatre.’
Rachel has been the Unicorn’s Associate Director since 2018. She is also an Associate at the National Theatre as a Peter Hall Bursary recipient 2022 – 24. Rachel’s stage work for the Unicorn includes: Roland Schimmelpfennig’s The Bee in Me and a re-imagining of stories from Aesop’s Fables (co-directed with Justin Audibert). Rachel’s upcoming stage work for the Unicorn is I Wish, created with Le Gateau Chocolat and Seiriol Davies. Her digital theatre productions for Unicorn Online include: Greek Myths Unplugged, Let Loose with Choreographer Arielle Smith (co-produced with English National Ballet) and episodes of Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales.
Rachel’s other theatre credits include: A Dead Body in Taos (Fuel), Augmented (Sophie Woolley/Told by an Idiot); Midnight Movie (Royal Court); The Shape of the Pain (China Plate/BAC); Rachel has also directed extensively in participation and education, and is a trustee of BAC and Camden People’s Theatre.
Chair of the Board, Dr Vanessa Ogden, said, ‘I am very pleased to appoint Rachel Bagshaw as the Unicorn’s next Artistic Director and joint CEO. In recent years, Rachel has played an integral part in the Unicorn as an Associate Director. She has an inspiring imagination and an emotional and intellectual intelligence which has been seen in the work she has already created here. She is passionate about creating vital, electrifying work and challenging theatre-making for children that aligns with the best we see on the adult stage. I am greatly looking-forward to this next chapter in the Unicorn’s growth knowing that Rachel, together with Co-Executives Bailey Lock and Helen Tovey, will build on Justin’s legacy, placing the values of inclusion and celebration of diversity at the heart of all we do.’
Current Artistic Director, Justin Audibert said, ‘I am delighted that Rachel will be taking over the artistic directorship of the magical creature that is the Unicorn Theatre. She is an artist of exceptional brilliance, a human being of wisdom and compassion, and I have no doubt she will be a visionary leader.
This appointment will thrill both the team at the Unicorn and the wider industry, and I cannot wait to see what magic Rachel and the team create. Rachel eats, sleeps and breathes the Unicorn’s mission of transforming young lives through theatre. Audiences are in for such a treat under her stewardship.
