PINK MIST to Open at Bush Theatre in 2016

Award-winning writer Owen Sheers' acclaimed play Pink Mist, about the mental and physical scars of war, will open at the Bush Theatre in January 2016, before a run at the Bristol Old Vic.

Also announced today, Papergang Theatre with the Bush Theatre will host an evening of story-exchanges from British East Asian artists in the Bush Theatre's Attic space.

Pink Mist tells the story of three young Bristol men deployed to Afghanistan. Returning to the women in their lives who must now share the physical and psychological aftershocks of their service, Arthur, Hads and Taff find their journey home is their greatest battle.

Owen Sheers' Pink Mist was inspired by thirty interviews with returned servicemen and first staged at Bristol Old Vic in July 2015. This moving production, directed by John Retallack, matches Sheers' haunting verse with dynamic movement from Associate Director George Mann, using the style and techniques developed with his company Theatre Ad Infinitum.

Tickets for the Bush run are on sale now.

Casting to be announced.

Chloe Elwood, Executive producer, Bristol Old Vic said: "It's a real honour to have been invited to bring Pink Mist to the Bush for 2016. It's a regional story with a universal impact which we hope Bush audiences will take to their hearts too."

Owen Sheers has been described as "the war poet of his generation". He is an author, poet and playwright whose first novel, Resistance was translated into eleven languages and adapted into a film. His latest novel, I Saw a Man, was published in June 2015. Owen's writing for theatre includes National Theatre of Wales' site-specific production in Port Talbot, The Passion; The Two Worlds of Charlie F, which won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, and NTW's Mametz. His verse drama Pink Mist was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and won the Hay Festival Poetry Medal and the Wales Book of the Year 2014. He has been Artist in Residence for the Welsh Rugby Union and is currently Professor in Creativity at Swansea University.

John Retallack was the founding director of Company of Angels, producing new work for young audiences. He was formerly Artistic Director of Oxford Stage Company and was the founding director of Actors Touring Company (ATC). John's own plays for theatre are translated into several languages and published by Oberon and Methuen. John is currently Tutor in writing for performance at Ruskin College Oxford.

George Mann is Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic, and Co-Artistic Director of Theatre Ad Infinitum. Highlights include Translunar Paradise (director, writer, co-deviser, and performer) a sell-out at Barbican as part of the London International Mime Festival (LIMF) 2012, which picked up nine awards and toured the globe for three years; Light (director, writer, co-deviser, performer of live vocals) met with critical acclaim, its London premier sold out at Barbican as part of LIMF 2015. In December 2014, George won the Quercus Trust Award becoming Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic in partnership with National Theatre; he continues his role at Ad Infinitum part time.

The mission of Papergang Theatre is to create theatre work that reflects the multi-cultural society we live in, bringing contemporary voices from the community into the mainstream.

Through a mix of performance, poetry and music, established and up-and-coming artists will share their tales, to awaken, connect and inspire their audience. Guests will divulge personal anecdotes born from the different cultures that have shaped them - fantastical tales, personal truths, memories of far-flung shores or incidents that happened right here in London.

Tanya Ronder's F*** THE POLAR BEARS is currently playing at the Bush until 24 October 2015, followed by RADAR, the Bush Theatre's annual festival of new writing (11 - 26 November) and FORGET ME NOT by Tom Holloway (8 December 2015 - 16 January 2016), a co-production between the Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival Theatre.

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