Helen Goalen

Helen Goalen is a director, dramaturg and award-winning theatre maker, best known as the co-founder of the critically acclaimed theatre company RashDash alongside collaborator Abbi Greenland.

For over fifteen years, Helen and Abbi have created groundbreaking live work that combines music, movement, physicality and storytelling to explore sex, power, gender, friendship and motherhood. RashDash has become one of the UK’s most celebrated contemporary theatre companies, with work described as “profound and extraordinary” (The Guardian), “sly, smart and loud” (The Independent) and charged with “punk rock energy” (Time Out).

After meeting at the University of Hull, Helen and Abbi developed a distinctive theatrical language rooted in radical honesty, ensemble performance, intimacy, humour and female experience. Their work is known for centring women who are powerful, messy, lonely, joyful and complex, often blending devised theatre, live music and bold visual storytelling. Their latest piece, There Were Goddesses, will appear in Francesca Moody's Shedinburgh season at the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe and the Young Vic.

Alongside their stage work as RashDash, Helen and Abbi are now expanding into screen, developing original short-form and feature projects for television and film. Helen is also increasingly working independently as a director, dramaturg and movement director on new theatrical collaborations and devised projects.

Selected RashDash credits include: THERE WERE GODDESSES (Shedinburgh/Young Vic/Francesca Moody Productions), OH MOTHER, (Soho Theatre, HOME, Tobacco Factory Theatres), THREE SISTERS (Royal Exchange Theatre, The Yard, Tobacco Factory Theatres: Winner of UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production), THE DARKEST CORNERS (Transform Festival), TWO MAN SHOW (Northern Stage, Soho Theatre, UK tour: Edinburgh Fringe First winner 2016, Stage Award for Acting Excellence), WE WANT YOU TO WATCH (by RashDash and Alice Birch, National Theatre and UK Tour), OH, I CAN’T BE BOTHERED (Soho Theatre), THE UGLY SISTERS (Edinburgh Festival and UK tour), SCARY GORGEOUS (Fringe First winner 2011) and ANOTHER SOMEONE (Fringe First winner 2010).

Directing credits include: LOOK AT ME DON’T LOOK AT ME (RashDash with Paines Plough, HOME, Theatre Clwyd, Staatstheater Mainz), FUTURE BODIES (RashDash co-production with Unlimited Theatre and HOME), HOLE (by Ellie Kendrick, Royal Court).