A little about me...
“Rachel Bellman has achieved something here that not even many mid-career writers can do” – Always Time for Theatre
I’m an award-winning writer, lyricist and playwright from London. I love creating female-led narratives that tackle identity, belonging and morality, often incorporating genre elements such as crime, fantasy and horror while combining drama with a dark comedic edge. I’m a recipient of the 2019 New Music Theatre Award, the 2024-25 Artsdepot Artist Residency and the 2024 MGCfutures Bursary.
Produced work includes Game Theory (LAMDA & Edinburgh Fringe – nominated for MTR’s Best Musical Award; previously produced in concert at The Lowry), Precipice produced at New Diorama and collaboratively created with Timelapse Theatre, and the play These Demons produced at London’s Theatre503, published and licensed by Concord Theatricals, and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting. Other produced full-length shows include The Dickens Girls (winner of the New Music Theatre Award, produced by British Youth Music Theatre at the New Wolsey Theatre and at University of Lincoln), and So-Called Gen Z (produced by PQA at the Edinburgh Fringe).
I have a range of plays and musicals in development, including the play Glow in the Dark showcased at the Criterion Theatre and developed through the Jewish Playwrights Programme, a collaboratively written commission with Emanate Productions, and musicals in development with Bethany Cooper Productions and seed commissioned by Birmingham Hippodrome.
I love working collaboratively and working with young people, and have developed shows with Arts Ed, Mountview Academy, Leeds Conservatoire, Musical Theatre Academy, University of Winchester, University of Portsmouth and Pauline Quirk Academy. My writing for children includes 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 narrated by Christopher Eccleston.
My writing has been commissioned and developed by organisations including Birmingham Hippodrome, Liverpool Empire, Criterion Theatre, the Lowry, and JW3, and performed across the UK and in Dublin, Lisbon and Tokyo. I’ve been part of the BOOK Music & Lyrics advanced workshop, am a three-time finalist for the Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize, and have developed my writing through MMD writers’ lab, Soho Writers’ Lab and Criterion New Writing.