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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Bush Theatre
The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers.

Artistic Directors

History

The Bush Theatre's original home (2005)

On Thursday 6 April 1972, the Bush Theatre was established above The Bush public house on the corner of Goldhawk Road and Shepherd's Bush Green, in what was once the dance studio of Lionel Blair. It was established by a maverick actor, Brian McDermott, who used to tour the Fringe. The venue, despite its fame and massive output, was intimate, with a maximum audience of approximately 80. The first production was an adaption of The Collector by John Fowles, directed by John Neville and starring Annette Andre and Brian McDermott; it had previously played at the King's Head Theatre.

Throughout 1992, the Bush Theatre celebrated 20 years at the frontier of new writing. "What has held the Bush together for 20 years? Blind faith, youthful commitment and a tenacious belief in new writing: above all, perhaps, the conviction that new work deserves the highest standards in acting, direction and design", The Guardian. The Bush won The Empty Space Award for the year's work, which included Billy Roche's Bush plays A Handful Of Stars, Poor Beast in the Rain and Belfry playing in repertory as The Wexford Trilogy, which toured to Wexford Opera House and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

In November 2010, the Bush Theatre announced it would be leaving its home of nearly forty years and moving to the former Passmore Edwards Public Library building, round the corner from its first home, on Uxbridge Road.

The relocation took place in 2011 and the new venue opened with the "Sixty-Six Books" project. This was a celebration of the anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, which used 66 writers, many of whom were veterans of the Bush.

That same year, Artistic Director Josie Rourke announced her departure from the Bush to take up the position of Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse. The Board appointed Madani Younis as her successor from January 2012. In 2013, he programmed the theatre's most successful season to date, which saw the theatre play to 99% capacity.

In Spring 2016, the Bush Theatre relocated its plays to found spaces around Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill, as the former library building closed for the largest capital project in the theatre's history. Borrowing new and iconic spaces with their own histories and tales of the local community, this season of work welcomed new audiences and residents by offering a number of free and subsidised theatre tickets to local people.

In March 2017, following a landmark year of taking plays into the communities of West London, the Bush Theatre returned home following a £4.3m revitalisation of the venue. The year-long redevelopment was driven by the aim of realising Younis’ vision for a theatre that reflected the diversity and vibrancy of London. Upon reopening, the building was to be more sustainable and entirely accessible, with a new entrance, front-of-house area and exterior garden terrace to the main street.

Lynette Linton became Artistic Directory in January 2019, following Younis' appointment as Creative Director at the Southbank Centre. That same year, the theatre was named London Theatre of the Year by The Stage.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bush Theatre filmed several of its productions and offered them to online viewers.

The Bush Theatre's 2013 production of Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar

Venue

Following the 2016/17 redevelopment, the Bush Theatre has two performance spaces:

  • The Theatre, a reserved seating venue with a maximum capacity of 180. It has remained in its original location and can be configured in a thrust, end on or in the round layout.
  • The Studio, an unreserved seating venue with a maximum capacity of 70, is a home for emerging artists and producers. Similarly, this space can be configured in a thrust, end on or in the round layout.

The building also contains an Attic rehearsal space and Writer's Room, along with a Café Bar, garden terrace and playtext library, which is the largest public theatre reference library in the United Kingdom.

The redevelopment of the venue was 'Cultural Project of the Year' finalist at the AJ Architecture Awards 2017, and 'Highly commended Cultural Building' at the AJ Retrofit Awards 2017, and selected by the Hammersmith Society as winner of their Conservation Award for 2017.

New writing

The Literary Department at the Bush Theatre is committed to discovering the best new plays from playwrights from the widest range of backgrounds and therefore seek unsolicited submissions throughout the year in dedicated script windows. The Bush is a proud champion of playwrights, with a keen interest in those voices not often heard, and reflecting the contemporary culture of London, the UK and beyond. The Department receives nearly 2000 scripts a year from new and established playwrights, all of which are read and considered for production or development at the Bush.

Awards

1977 – George Devine Award to Robert Holman for German Skerries
1979 – George Devine Award to Jonathan Gems for The Tax Exile
1982 – Samuel Beckett Award for Coming Clean by Kevin Elyot
1986 – Laurence Olivier Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement to Robert Holman for Making Noises Quietly
1989 – John Whiting Award for Handful of Stars by Billy Roche
1993 – Laurence Olivier Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement to Billy Roche for The Wexford Trilogy
1993 – Susan Smith Blackburn Award to Jane Coles for Backstroke In A Crowded Pool
1993 – John Whiting Award for The Clearing by Helen Edmundson
1994 – John Whiting Award for Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey
1995 – Laurence Olivier Award Nomination for Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey
1996 – Susan Smith Blackburn Award to Naomi Wallace for One Flea Spare
1997 – Meyer-Whitworth Award to Conor McPherson for This Lime Tree Bower
1998 – George Devine Award to Helen Blakeman for Caravan
1998 – Meyer-Whitworth Award to Daragh Carville for Language Roulette
1999 – George Devine Award to Mark O'Rowe for Howie the Rookie
2005 – Meyer-Whitworth Award to Stephen Thompson for Damages
2006 – Susan Smith Blackburn Award to Amelia Bullmore for Mammals
2007 – Susan Smith Blackburn Award to Abbie Spallen for Pumpgirl

Books

To celebrate 40 years of the Bush Theatre, "Close-Up Magic": 40 Years at the Bush Theatre was published, charting the history of the theatre and including contributions from past directors, actors, writers and audience members.

Productions

A list of selected productions of the Bush Theatre.

Bibliography

  • Burkey, Neil (2011). "Close-Up Magic": 40 Years at the Bush Theatre. London: Profile Books Limited. ISBN 978-1906-50765-7.