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Rachel Isobel Heritage

@rachel22heritage

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🎭actor🖊️writer 📸 director 🌈♾️
Founder & Director @lockdownprojections
Personal Trainer @progresswithrachel
COME SEE JEALOUSY PLAY @ Etc Theatre 26/10

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#Review: Jealousy Play @EtceteraTheatre ★★★★★

"Brave, heartrending and genuinely funny, it is the kind of show that inspires the audience to make theatre of their own."

@jealousyplaybyrih @lockdownprojections @rachel22heritage

#theatre #fringe #camden

Full review on our website, link in bio, or see first comment by @rachel22heritage

Tongues out guns out with @senorbabephotographer , thank you for the wonderful shoot ❤️ feeling all set for fringe now…

(We open next week btw, if you’re in Edinburgh ask me where you should be at 8:40pm on any evening of the 17th-22nd)
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#photoshoot #photography #getyourdeltsout by @rachel22heritage

The reviews are in 💚

Four- and Five Star reviews for Jealousy Play!!!

From Edinburgh Fringe to one night only at the etcetera Theatre in Camden, this show has been a love letter to every actor who’s been told they don’t belong, to the burnt out, and to the working-class and neurodivergent artists still fighting for their place in the room.

Thank you to every reviewer who came, every audience member who laughed, cried and stayed for a chat afterwards, and to the whole team who made it happen. We’re so proud of this little green show.

Swipe to read what the critics said →

Written and Performed by @rachel22heritage
Directed by @a.lew.photo
LD @nat20_cosplay
Show Photography by @photodobbie
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#jealousyplay #newwriting #fringetheatre #neurodivergenttheatre #londontheatre by @rachel22heritage

There was a moment when I genuinely didn’t know if this play had anything left to give. Or if I had anything left to give it

But tonight, Jealousy Play returns to London for ONE NIGHT ONLY, and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of something I’ve created.

Edinburgh was beautiful, exhausting, overwhelming and deeply personal. Getting this show there meant more to me than I can properly put into words. And when it was over, I found myself questioning what came next.

But sometimes, the most beautiful thing you can do for something you’ve created is allow it to grow beyond what it was originally supposed to be.

Breathing new life into this play, refining it and collaborating with such wonderful people has reminded me why I fell in love with making theatre in the first place.

This is the most vulnerable piece of work I’ve ever made. And tonight, I get to put all of that vulnerability into the hands of an audience again.

I’m nervous. I’m emotional. But more than anything, I’m incredibly grateful.

To everyone who has supported this show, booked a ticket or believed in its journey, thank you. It means more than you know.

We have just 11 TICKETS LEFT for tonight. If you’ve been thinking about coming, I’d love nothing more than to share this with you.

📍 Etcetera Theatre, Camden
📅 TONIGHT 26 October, 7pm
🎟️ Tickets via the link in bio!

I promise you, this is the Jealousy Play you deserve to see 💚

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#jealousyplay #londontheatre #fringetheatre #solotheatre #newwriting by @rachel22heritage

Hello, this is Rachel, the writer, speaking 😉

Redeveloping this show for one night at Etcetera Theatre has been such a beautiful experience.

I’ve often called Jealousy Play “the play of my healing”, it came straight out of my ego death, and it’s been alongside me through my own healing from complex trauma, and through recognising and accepting how autism and other neurodivergences shape my life.

For years I struggled with hyper-independence, my vision blurred by trauma responses and subconscious patterns I didn’t even know I was running. A huge part of that was not letting anybody in, unknowingly protecting myself and my work by isolating myself. I can see now how much that made it hard to put myself, or my work, out into the world.

Jealousy Play is the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever written. I’m so happy it’s in the hands of the creative team it’s in now; so grateful for Anna, for Jae and everyone else working on this show with me. I feel truly safe sharing this work and watching it grow, and there’s something genuinely healing about having a team around you that you can actually have faith in.

Jealousy Play returns for one night only - Etcetera Theatre, Camden, Monday 26 October, 7pm. Tickets are on sale now, book yours in bio.

Written and Performed by @rachel22heritage
Directed by @a.lew.photo

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#jealousyplay #londontheatre #camdentheatre #fringetransfer #newwriting by @rachel22heritage

The reviews are in, the audience has spoken, and Jealousy Play is coming home to London 💚

After Edinburgh Fringe 2026, we’re back for one night only at the etcetera Theatre, Camden, on Sunday 26 October at 7pm.

A story about obsession, envy and the child we were before we learned to stay quiet.

Written and Performed by @rachel22heritage
Directed by @a.lew.photo
Live footage by @alanayoung1

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#jealousyplay

#londontheatre

#fringetheatre

#etceteratheatre

#newwriting by @rachel22heritage

“I don’t know what the f*ck blunt means” is probably the most autistic sentence I’ve ever said 😭

Unmasking has genuinely been one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself as an artist. I’m more direct, more present, less frightened of taking up space, and WAY more able to actually surrender into the work instead of constantly monitoring how I’m coming across.

But professionally? It can be f*cking exhausting.

Because I’ll say exactly what I mean and somehow people will still find a second meaning that I did not put there. Then if I become hyper aware of that and start sugarcoating everything, suddenly I’m acting “odd” or people don’t trust me because I’m clearly choosing every word too carefully.

Like babes I am TRYING 😭

I think this is one of the biggest things I wish people understood about autistic communication. Direct doesnt automatically mean rude. Literal doesnt mean hostile. A full stop is sometimes literally just a full stop.

And honestly this is why I keep talking about autism, unmasking and working in this industry because I know I’m defintely not the only person who has found that unmasking can make you a better artist whilst simultaneously making the business side feel ten times harder.

Maybe I do just need to start every email with “hello, I am autistic, please do not invent subtext” 💀

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#actuallyautistic #autisticartist #autisticactor #neurodivergentartist #unmasking by @rachel22heritage

I think we talk about class privilege a lot in terms of money, access, education, contacts, housing, opportunities. And obviously all of that matters.

But I think one of the things we speak about far less is what prolonged financial and environmental instability actually teaches your nervous system.

If safety has always felt temporary, you learn to keep moving. You learn not to get too comfortable. You learn that the next place, the next job, the next amount of money, the next version of your life might finally be the thing that makes you safe.

And then one day you realise that constantly preparing to escape is stopping you from actually building anything where you are.

For me, healing this year has involved recognising that staying can be a form of growth too. Building community. Letting somewhere become home. Allowing myself enough stability that my life doesn’t constantly have to exist six months in the future.

Class privilege isn’t just having more money. Sometimes it’s having had enough safety that your body learned it was okay to stay still.

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#workingclass #classism #cptsd #nervoussystemregulation #healingjourney by @rachel22heritage

I think one of the weirdest things about building something from scratch is that you don’t really notice when it stops being the random thing you started and becomes your actual life.

There was no moment where someone handed me a certificate and went, congrats, you run a theatre company now. I don’t have a degree in theatre studies or business. My Acting foundation was cut short by COVID and my trading was finished at an ✨educational charity ✨ I choose not to make publicly [iykyk].

But I kept turning up. Kept making things. Kept learning. Kept getting things wrong. Kept trying again.

And now, six years later, this thing I started at 20 has shaped my entire career.

There have been massive highs, massive lows, periods where I’ve questioned absolutely everything, and periods where I’ve looked around and thought, holy sh*t, I actually built this.

I still don’t know everything. I probably never will. But I do know that I’m really, really proud of the fact that I never waited for someone else to give me permission to take myself seriously.

I just started.

And then I kept going.

So, here’s to the next six 🥂

Post includes photography by @photodobbie and @stevegregsonphotos

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#theatremaker #workingclassartist #selfproducing #independenttheatre #creativecareer by @rachel22heritage

The more I think about class in theatre, the more I realise that some of the hardest barriers to explain are the ones nobody tells you are there.

We talk a lot about money, unpaid labour, who can afford drama school, who can afford to make fringe work and who has the safety net to keep going. All of that matters enormously, but I think there is another layer that starts becoming really obvious when you begin entering bigger rooms.

Sometimes you get there and realise everyone else seems to know a set of rules that you were never taught.

How to speak, how to dress, what references to understand, how to network, how to present yourself and even what people unconsciously read as intelligence, professionalism or talent.

I’ve started thinking of this as class camouflage.

The scary part is that the more successful you become at learning those codes, the easier it can become to forget that they are codes at all. You can start mistaking adaptation for superiority and judging somebody else for not knowing something that you yourself had to learn.

I think that is where internalised classism gets really intresting.

As working class artists, I think we should absolutely learn how power works. Get into the rooms, understand the system, build careers, make money and create opportunities. But I also think we have a responsibilty not to become ashamed of the version of ourselves who did not know the rules yet.

And if you are already a producer, director or gatekeeper in this industry, I think it is worth asking how often somebody feeling culturally familiar to you gets mistaken for them being more talented, more professional or easier to work with.

We need to decolonise our thinking, but we also need genuine class consciousness, because otherwise we just recreate the same barriers with different people holding the keys.

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#workingclassartists #theatreindustry #classism #workingclasscreatives #theatremaker by @rachel22heritage

Faces of the Fringe: Rachel Isobel Heritage

This would technically be my third Fringe. I was here in 2021 with a solo show, and last year I directed a show. I didn’t think I was nervous coming here, and then suddenly I was like, oh shit, I’m terrified. I think that’s because the play itself is really, really personal. It’s based on my real life, my healing journey over the last year and my experience as a late-discovered neurodivergent with CPTSD and is working class within the arts. My default understanding has always been that I will be misunderstood. You go about life having that as a core belief, but part of my healing is learning that I have these core beliefs and they may not always be true.
Trauma healing talks about how you have patterns that were there to protect you when you were young, but they might not always be the most helpful things. My character, Joanne, repeats certain patterns and puts herself in certain situations because that’s what feels familiar. Then she realises that what she’s been chasing isn’t something she’s going to achieve, because she’s really just chasing that kind of love that she was never really given. But she can find that for herself. That’s the journey I’ve been on for the past year. I spent years hustling like a motherfucker. At drama school I was working four nights a week because I had to pay to be there. Then I hit the industry desperately, going to almost every workshop, throwing shit at loads of different walls and nothing landing. Over the past year I’ve been learning: life is short, but life is long. You don’t need every achievement and piece of validation right now. Stop trying to seek validation from an industry that doesn’t necessarily accept you. That validation does not create your self-worth. It’s really about choosing yourself. I think that is the lesson you need to learn: choose yourself and choose the artist. You’re not a product, you’re not a puppet. You are a voice. That voice matters. You’re not empty, and that’s what finding your voice is. If I want art and stories to set me free, then that first story has to be about me. by @rachel22heritage

Halfway through Edinburgh Fringe 🥲

At the start of this week, I got really overwhelmed by the reality of what I’d actually made.

We’ve spent so long writing, rehearsing, producing and trying to get Jealousy Play into a room that I don’t think I’d properly processed the fact that eventually… people were going to sit in that room and hear it.

They were going to hear this story that, while fictionalised, has so much of me buried inside it. They were going to hear about jealousy and obsession and rage, but also about wanting something so badly, feeling like the world wasn’t built for you to have it, and trying to work out when fighting for your dream becomes fighting against yourself.

And then people started telling me that they saw themselves in it.

Which was kind of terrifying.

I cried. I got incredibly overwhelmed. Then, because apparently my body enjoys comedic timing, I also got sick 😭

But three shows in, something has shifted.

We’ve had some genuinely gorgeous audience responses. People have stayed afterwards to talk to us about the show, about recognising themselves in Joanne, about being an artist, about neurodivergence, about jealousy, ambition and what it costs to keep trying. We’ve had people laugh in places I didn’t expect and go completely silent in others.

And I can actually feel the message landing.

That’s the thing I wanted more than anything when I wrote this. Underneath all the ridiculousness and rage and theatrical chaos, I wanted somebody sitting in the audience to feel a little less alone in some of the uglier feelings we don’t really admit to having.

So, somehow, we’re halfway through already.

It’s raining. I’m still slightly ill. Edinburgh is Edinburgh-ing. But going into the second half of this run, I feel more motivated than ever to throw as much energy behind this strange little play as we possibly can.

Three more chances to fill that tiny room and tell this story.

Let’s fucking go. ❤️‍🔥
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#edfringe #edinburghfringe #jealousyplay #newwriting #solotheatre by @rachel22heritage