Rebecca Atkinson-Lord and Rachel Briscoe leave Ovalhouse

Rebecca Atkinson-Lord and Rachel Briscoe have announced today they will be stepping down as Co-Directors of Theatre at Ovalhouse, with the Autumn 2015 season being their last at the South London venue.

The joint artistic directors, who have headed up the theatre since 2010, will move on to their own respective companies with Atkinson-Lord as director of Arch 468 and Briscoe as co-director of fanSHEN.

During their tenure at Ovalhouse, the two women overhauled the venue's brand, raised its profile and created a new Artistic Policy to regenerate the artistic programme. The co-directors have also been credited with doubling audience numbers and co-producing and commissioning over 100 pieces of theatre.

Commenting on the move, Atkinson-Lord said: "Leading the theatre programme at Ovalhouse over the last five years has been an incredibly rewarding experience for us both. We’ve been privileged to work with some of the most innovative and exciting artists of our generation and it has been a joy to create a place where we can re-imagine the possibilities of what theatre and performance can be."

Rachel Briscoe added: "Job-sharing at Ovalhouse meant that we continued to work as independent artists throughout our tenure; being able to see the venue-artist relationship from both sides was useful and important. Now it’s time for both of us to spend a little more time being artists and a little less time being a venue."

The news follows an announcement made in October citing a move to Brixton. The fundraising campaign supported by Patron Pierce Brosnan.