Unicorn Theatre guests Kloden : Lays the foundation for further collaboration

May 16, 2025

From left: Beth Wilmot, Rachel Bagshaw and Ådne Sekkelsten.

– It is incredibly valuable to exchange perspectives on how we work with performing arts for children and young people. I hope this is just the start of a good and long collaboration, says Rachel Bagshaw, Artistic Director at the Unicorn Theater in London, Europe's leading theater house for children.

Together with producer Beth Wilmot, Bagshaw is visiting Kloden theater.

Unicorn Theatre is the UK’s national theatre for children, with around 65,000 visitors annually. It is Europe’s leading theatre house dedicated to performing arts for audiences aged 0-13. Based on London Bridge, right on the River Thames, the theatre is housed in an award-winning building designed to be an inclusive and imaginative place for young audiences. The theatre produces new and traditional shows, with the aim of creating performing arts that is challenging, bold and relevant to children.

Children's perspective in the city center

– We are often children's first encounter with theater, and that gives us a great responsibility, says Bagshaw.

The theater invites children into artistic processes from the very beginning.

“Often two years before a performance is completed, we invite children in to influence the performance. Children are experts at being children,” says Bagshaw, adding:

When we invite children in as artists and co-creators, it changes how they engage and how we make theater.

–Rachel Bagshaw, Artistic Director at the Unicorn Theatre

During their visit to Oslo, they have become familiar with Norwegian children's and youth theatre through the Assitej Festival, in addition to Kloden theater. They experience the theater here as inclusive and accessible.

– Theater feels very accessible here, through your low ticket prices and the "Peter Pan" tickets for 20 kroner, and through the cultural school bag, among other things. You engage children and young people as creators and artists in a way that we want to learn more from, she says.

Wilmot and Bagshaw were also inspired by the work aimed at youth.

“We do theatre for children under 13, but we've been rethinking whether we should also consider reaching out to young people. There's such fantastic work here for young people,” says Bagshaw.

Collaboration with intercultural theaters

During the visit, Bagshaw and Wilmot met the gang in Nordic Black Xpress (NBX) during rehearsals for PASSER MIN BEAT? on Kloden theater. Turid Rachel Bråthen, a student at NBX, told the guests about the theater education that is the leading player with a clear focus on diversity and transcultural exchange in Norway.

Turid Rachel Bråthen, a student at Nordic Black Xpress, talks about theater education, which is the leading actor with a clear focus on diversity and transcultural exchange in Norway.

Unicorn Theatre collaborates with, among others, Talawa Theatre Company, the UK's leading Black Theatre, which for over 35 years has broken down barriers and provided opportunities for black artists across the UK.

Schools are the main audience

At least half of Unicorn Theatre's audience is school classes. Unlike Norway, British schools do not have access to schemes such as The Cultural School Backpack. Unicorn Theatre also produces digital content that is distributed to schools across the country and globally.

“A lot of schools pay for tickets when they visit us, but we try to make it as cheap as possible or free for those who need it. We subsidize about 60 percent of our school tickets,” says Bagshaw.

A collaboration

In February was Kloden theatre visiting Unicorn Theatre in London. It is very inspiring to gain insight into how they work with the development of performing arts projects for young audiences, while at the same time managing their role as a national stage for children and young people in the UK. Unicorn Theatre has been an important reference project for Kloden theater ever since its establishment 10 years ago.

Kloden theater visiting Unicorn Theatre in February.
Unicorn Theatre is a national stage for young audiences in the UK.

One of Bagshaw's pieces of advice to Kloden The theatre, which is now in the initial phase of construction of the theatre building, is to place significant focus on the audience zones. That the foyer and the rest of the theatre are designed in a way that makes children and young people feel like they belong there.

– There is so much of this that you already do. I am concerned that both the premises and the performances give children and young people a feeling that the place is for them. When it comes to programming, I see it as important that we expand children's horizons, and constantly create invitations to other worlds, she says.

Unicorn Theatre:

Unicorn Theatre was established in 1949 in the UK by Caryl Jenner under the name "Caryl Jenner Mobile Theatre", with the aim of bringing theatre to children in remote villages and theatreless towns across the country. In 1962 the name was changed to "Unicorn Theatre Club", and in 1967 the company took over the lease of the Arts Theatre in London, which remained Unicorn's home until 1999. After a five-year campaign, a purpose-built theatre building was opened at London Bridge in 2005, and this remains Unicorn Theatre's home today.