A little about me...
“An incredibly assured debut play that establishes Rachel Bellman as a writer to watch.” – London Pub Theatres
I’m a writer, lyricist, and playwright from London. I love telling original or true stories that kick you in the gut, make you laugh and cry at the same time, and are just a little bit weird.
Recently my play These Demons received its 3 week world premiere production at Theatre503 in autumn 2023, and was published by Concord Theatricals. Other current projects include the musical Game Theory developed by Perfect Pitch and produced in concert at The Lowry in 2021; 90 Seconds to Midnight, a collaboratively written and devised project with Timelapse Theatre; and a new musical in development with the creative learning department at the Liverpool Empire.
In 2019 I won the New Music Theatre Award for The Dickens Girls written with composer Elizabeth Sybil Charlesworth. It was produced by British Youth Music Theatre at the New Wolsey Theatre in August 2019, directed by Charlotte Westenra. As a lyricist I’ve been a three time finalist for the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize.
Other projects include ISOLATED, a short immersive commission by JW3, and various short plays and monologues produced in London and online during the 2020 lockdown. In 2019 my and Josh Bird’s musical So-Called Gen Z was produced by Pauline Quirke Academy, Sutton, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, following a summer of workshops at PQA Sutton with director Grace Taylor. In spring 2019 a working draft of Game Theory (then called Flower Cutters) was produced by University of Central Lancashire, directed by Bruce Guthrie.
I also write for children, including the song cycle Being Brilliant performed at Royal Concert Hall Nottingham in 2017, mini-musicals Elf Spies and The Knights Before Christmas commissioned by Perfect Pitch, and the musical picture book and CD Barry the Penguin’s Black and White Christmas which I adapted & co-authored in 2015.
My writing has been workshopped at the Liverpool Empire, Birmingham Hippodrome, Arts Ed, Musical Theatre Academy, University of Winchester, and University of Portsmouth. Individual songs have been part of Musical Bites at The Other Palace, the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize, SIGNAL, From Page to Stage, and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra.
I have developed my writing skills as part of the BOOK Music & Lyrics advanced composer/lyricist workshop, Mercury Musical Developments writers’ lab, Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab and Criterion New Writing.