'What impresses most is
the organic inspiration of
the ensemble'
THE GUARDIAN

'Compelling, starkly stripped-back, modern dress production... Finding the mordant humour in the ego-driven power politics and a fresh visual shorthand, the production never relaxes its grip'
THE INDEPENDENT

'A hip Romeo and Juliet... Impossibly cool... You can feel the terrible, impetuous flushes
of first love and you want it
work out for them.' 
THE STAGE

'Dashes a knowledgeable audience’s preconceptions and make them feel the whole thing, whole-heartedly, all over again'
A YOUNGER THEATRE

Rachel is a theatre and film director working across the UK and internationally. The breadth of her work includes "stereotype smashing" (The Stage) reimaginings of the classics; regular collaborations with emerging and established writers, from the UK, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon and cross discipline events and installations.

Rachel has been commissioned by the British Council Lebanon, European Union National Institutes for Culture, AUB, The Lowry and New Diorama Theatre. For 6 years Rachel was co-artistic director of multi award winning international ensemble The Faction, following 4 years as associate director. Rachel stepped down from this role in 2021. During her tenure the company presented five critically acclaimed repertory seasons, UK midscale tours, international engagements and major commissions.

Rachel’s directing work has seen her develop a critically acclaimed collaborative ensemble practice. For The Faction her work includes co-directing King Lear in Beirut with Lebanese director Sahar Assaf, marking the first time Shakespeare was performed in Lebanese Arabic, and directing the company’s first short films Medea/Worn and My Last Duchess commissioned for the #LoveLowry programme (during the Covid-19 pandemic) which have been nominated and officially selected for festivals across the world. 

Independently, Rachel’s work with contemporary writers includes developing and presenting work with documentary and journalistic genesis including No Demand No Supply: a Reworking of Lebanon’s Sex Trafficking Scandal for Shubbak Festival, and regularly working with Palindrome Productions Sahar Speaks programme, bringing the stories of female Afghan journalists to the stage.

Rachel has been a resident assistant director at Almeida Theatre (London) and Themba theatre in Johannesburg and she served as a board member for New Diorama between 2013-2021. Rachel is a Lincoln Center Directors Lab alumni and was on the founding committee for the Directors Lab Mediterranean, endorsed by the Lincoln Center. She regularly works with Off WestEnd and the Adopt A Playwright scheme directing emerging writers work for west end rehearsed readings. 

Currently, Rachel is workshopping two multilingual and multinational theatre projects that bring together artists from Greece, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Turkey and the UK and a brand new stage adaptation of a classic feature film. 

Rachel is a working-class artist who has lived in London for 18 years where she has also worked as a designer, front of house assistant, follow spot, waiter, pigeon-feeder (for real), call centre operator and production editor for the Guardian. All of this experience alongside Rachel's original training as a visual artist and designer in Brighton and Kingston and her recent MA Art+Politics at Goldsmiths has fundamentally influenced her collaborative, visually innovative practice as a director.

Rachel is represented by Michael Stannard at Treviem