Bush Theatre today announces productions for the second half of 2024, confirming its position at the forefront of new writing, and reaffirming its dedication to talent development and community engagement.
In the theatre’s main house, the Holloway Theatre, Gabriel Akuwudike, Rakie Ayola and Tiwa Lade join the cast of My Father’s Fable, a new play by Oliver award nominated actress and winner of this year’s Alfred Fagon Award Faith Omole (Standing At The Sky’s Edge).
The Bush Young Company returns to the main stage in August with a production co–created with the 18-25 Young Company, followed by the 14-17 Young Company in a play commissioned from a Bush Emerging Writers’ Group alumnus Jasmin Mandi-Ghomi, as part of our artist development programme Staged by Jerwood.
A high point of the Bush’s season, in just three years, the BYC has developed a reputation amongst audiences and critics as the place to spot tomorrow’s talent. The writer and director behind the Olivier award winning The P Word, Waleed Akhtar and Anthony Simpson-Pike reunite to present The Real Ones, a funny and honest love letter to platonic soulmates. Daniel Bailey returns to the Bush stage following the success of Red Pitch in the West End to direct Bush Emerging Writers Group alumnus Beru Tessema’s Wolves on Road, a co-commission with Tamasha, which takes us on a thrilling deep-dive into the mysterious world of cryptocurrency.
In February 2025, Emerging Writers’ Group alum Coral Wylie teams up with Overflow director Debbie Hannan for their debut play, Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew.
In the Studio, Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit Lady Dealer opens in May followed by Statues, written and performed by Bush Young Company alumnus Azan Ahmed, which explores the impact of loss and what you can gain from it, and Tender, a dazzling and moving new story of two people who find each other without even knowing they were looking written by Eleanor Tindall (Before I Was A Bear, Soho Theatre).
Lynette Linton, the Bush Theatre’s Artistic Director said, ‘We are surrounded by positivity at the Bush; emerging talent winning critical and audience acclaim, winning industry prizes and recognition, and returning to us with new work which is equally as exciting. In the last year, shows including ‘A Playlist for the Revolution’, our Young Company Shows ‘Pass It On’ and ‘As We Face The Sun’, ‘Elephant’, ‘Red Pitch’ and ‘Shifters’ have played to packed houses. There’s undoubtedly a call from audiences for new writing which reflects the world in which we live, written by exciting new talent keen to push theatre forward. The plays in our Studio, traditionally a laboratory for developing new work, have gained a real following amongst audiences wanting to be at the start of something big. ‘Invisible’ transferred to Off-Broadway, and ‘Dreaming and Drowning’ broke Bush box office records, only to be superseded by ‘This Might Not Be It’ breaking them once again. Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini’s ‘Sleepova’ and AJ Yi’s ‘A Playlist for the Revolution’ were nominated for Olivier Awards this year with ‘Sleepova’ winning both the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.
To fulfil our mission to really shake up the theatrical canon and continue to have influence over its future – we hold our artists close and want to support them beyond their debut plays. We are thrilled by the reception to ‘Red Pitch’ in the West End but getting it there was a difficult task, with many producers still feeling it a ‘risk’ to produce work which mirrors the world around them. We’re determined to forge ahead though, and our commitment to producing second works by Waleed Akhtar and Beru Tessema in this season is testament to this. Until plays by new writers and creatives are given a bigger platform it’s impossible for them to shine, to be seen by awards panels and to be included in the ‘top 10’ lists which define the industry. But that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten our first time writers, Alfred Fagon Award winner Faith Omole makes her Bush debut with ‘My Father’s Fable’, a gripping story of grief, belonging, and a family on the edge, and the debut play from Emerging Writers’ Group alum Coral Wylie ‘Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew’ is a beautiful exploration of queer history and queerer plants.
The arts world is still feeling the continued impact of Covid and until (we hope) we have a government which takes theatre and its contribution to society seriously, many theatres are understandably reverting to the safest choices they can make, but for us, it has always been about moving forward. When we think about the programming of a Bush show, we have in mind the legacy that we want to leave behind. This season of shows are not only a good night out but also epic explorations of deeply human stories which force us to ask big questions of ourselves and the world we live in and dig deep.’
