The first production in the Bush Theatre’s 50th Birthday Season will be The House of Ife, a world premiere commissioned by the theatre.
A tense and captivating story of what it means to belong, and what happens when a family’s secrets shake its foundations, this explosive drama by Ethiopian-British writer Beru Tessema, is directed by Artistic Director, Lynette Linton and opens on 11 April. The cast is Jude Akuwudike, Yohanna Ephrem, Sarah Priddy, Karla-Simone Spence, and Michael Workeye.
‘See that’s the problem with this family innit, we never wanna talk real about Ife.’
In the wake of the sudden death of their eldest son, Ife, one family is forced to confront the traumas they’ve long tried to bury. As the sun beats down on their North London flat, and the head of the family arrives from Ethiopia for the funeral, tensions rise, cultures clash, and past betrayals are unearthed.
Lynette Linton said ‘House of Ife is exactly how I want to kick off the Bush Theatre’s 50th year. A Bush commission, a family story reflecting a community we so rarely see on stage, and a gripping tale of how those with different thinking, even in one family live alongside another. Beru’s exploration of the impact of being first-generation Ethiopian immigrants to the UK and how that can affect your sense of belonging is key to the lives of many of our audience and I can’t wait to see how the all-too-common clash of religion and culture manifests itself on stage’
