Rachel Mars

I am a performance maker, stage and screen writer with a background in theatre, live art and comedy. I explore the idiosyncratic cultural and political constructs that inform the way we are together, as people, just trying to figure it all out. My work wrestles with female, Jewish and Queer identities and their intersections.

STAGE
My work is text and action based. The text is sharp, witty and observational, often referencing and sending up modes of popular culture. It is poetic but comprehensible, leaving enough space for an audience to insert their own personal experiences. It interweaves personal reflection with universal questions, those of politics and place. I am increasingly interested in exploring radical forms, the power of immediacy and moments of assembly.

The body in my practice is a site of personal histories, inherited behaviours and cultural expectations – both true and invented.  Influences include -  Curious, Morecambe and Wise, Cassils, Hannah Gadsby, Lisa Kron, Bobby Baker and Gob Squad.

I make performance work as a solo artist and collaborate with a range of artists including Greg Wohead [Story #1 / Gaping Hole] and nat tarrab as mars.tarrab - the 2017 Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award Winners. Recent theatre commissions have included HOME Manchester/The Entertainment Group, Leeds Playhouse, The Junction, Cambridge; Royal Court Tottenham; Fuel Theatre and Ovalhouse.

Recent residencies include The Orchard Project and Asylum (NY),  Playwrights Centre (Minneapolis), Horizon Showcase (UK) and Cove Park (UK)  I was a fellow at the Birkbeck Centre of Contemporary Theatre UK. I teach workshops on University courses and artist development programmes in the UK, Canada and the US. I’ve been a regular contributor to 'Pause for Thought' on BBC Radio 2. 

My work features in publications: ‘Performance in An Age of Precarity’, ‘DIY Too’, and ‘Stages of Resistance’.

SCREEN
Over the past couple of years I’ve been moving more to screen writing, focusing primarily on comedy-drama ; female-led stories often with a dyke camp aesthetic. I’m currently writing about psychics, arsonists, lesbians in the 70s, and families who haven’t dealt with their pasts.
In 2023 I was a participant on the Royal Court Theatre x Sister Pictures Writing Group. I was a participant on the first Writers Lab UK and Ireland - a development lab for female TV and Film writers who are 40 and over, with my TV script ‘SLACKS’. I was a finalist on the 2022 4Stories/Blacklight Productions.

Recent Awards:
Total Theatre Award for Our Carnal Hearts
Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award for ROLLER

BLOOD PLAY Shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Playwrighting
BLOOD PLAY Semi Finalist for Jewish Play’s Project Prize (US)