Bush Theatre Celebrates The Success of its 50th Anniversary Year
The Bush marked the beginning of their 50th year with an event showcasing work from the theatre's history performed by the Bush's newly formed Young Company.
By: Stephi Wild Apr. 06, 2023
The team at the Bush Theatre, led by Artistic Director Lynette Linton and Executive Director Lauren Clancy are celebrating an unprecedented year of hit plays, community work, and industry awards for the venue's 50th anniversary year.
The Bush marked the beginning of their 50th year with an event showcasing work from the theatre's history performed by the Bush's newly formed Young Company. It also announced a season of Bush-commissioned plays, which went on to introduce new names to the canon, win critical acclaim, and play to packed houses.
The last twelve months have seen twenty-one nominations in the Off West End awards leading to wins in categories of 'Best Producer', 'Most Promising Playwright' (for Waleed Akhtar's The P Word), and 'Best Play' (Tyrell Williams' Red Pitch).
Four Evening Standard Theatre Awards nominations led to Tyrell Williams being voted 'Most Promising Playwright' for Red Pitch. Tyrell also won the George Devine Award and The Stage Debut Award. Benedict Lombe's Lava won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Waleed Akhtar's The P Word was shortlisted for the Writer's Guild 'Best Play' award and Ambreen Razia's Favour was nominated for 'Best Play' in the Asian Theatre Awards.
In February the Bush jointly won 'Theatre of the Year' alongside the Lyric Theatre, Belfast at The Stage Awards and last weekend the venue's 50th year was completed by Waleed Akhtar's The P Word winning the Olivier award for 'Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre'.
Bush Theatre successes have continued across the Atlantic with Arinzé Kene's Misty having just finished a run at The Shed in New York City and Nikhil Parmar's Invisible opening at 59E59 in June after returning to the Bush for a short run this May.
The Bush Theatre's Studio space continued to be a laboratory for the very best in new writing, new stories, and new experiences. The intimate and electric atmosphere of the Studio offers the chance to get up close to the action and see work that leaves audiences talking, written, and performed by the future stars of theatre. Breaking new ground in 2022 the Bush continued its commitment to freelance practitioners by employing a core group of creatives to work on all four shows including set and costume designer Georgia Wilmot, lighting designer Laura Howard, sound designer Bella Kear and production manager Ruth Burgon. They created a common space for the Studio season, uniting the four different worlds Nikhil Parmar's Invisible, Will Jackson's Clutch, Anoushka Lucas' Elephant, and Tania Nwachukwu's The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English.
The Bush's celebrated Community department marked the theatre's 50th birthday with HORIZON, by Kwame Owusu - the first commissioned play for the 14 -17 Bush Young Company - followed by ANTHEM, the debut performance from the 18 - 25 Young Company. The team successfully launched a project enabling over 600 local school-aged children to see Bush shows for free and worked with 170 students in pre-show workshops. They also continued to work with the Neighbourhood Company, a long-established artistic outlet for local people.
To celebrate the theatre's 50th birthday the Bush's Literary department has launched a new bursary programme for outgoing members of the Bush Young Company. The recipients of the inaugural Bloom Bursary will receive a bursary of £750 and mentorship from the Bush's Literary department to help them develop their writing skills. The writers benefitting from the Bloom Bursary are Maymuna Abdi, Sara Dawood, Maryam Garad, Kerrica Kendall, Jonny Khan and James Walsh.
During the 50th year, two writers who started their relationship with the Bush through open submissions, and five writers who took part in the venue's Emerging Writers Group saw their work produced on its stages. The Olivier-Award-winning The P Word began life as a Bush Theatre 'seed commission'. These successes cement the Bush's aim to develop new talent for the stage.
The Bush is part of the Arts Council's National funding Portfolio, however, it also needs to raise a third of its income each year to make all this work possible. Supporters and partners are an integral part of the Bush's family and it would be impossible to discover and nurture the talent of the future without them.
Lynette Linton said, 'It's testament to the team that after a couple of years which were difficult for us all, we were determined to celebrate an important anniversary for the Bush in such style. I'm immensely proud of our work in developing new talent both on-stage and behind the scenes. Big up our writers, performers, and creatives who are making waves in the industry and I'm sure will continue to for years to come'.
Lauren Clancy, who leaves her role as Executive Director in May said, 'I feel so proud of the way the Bush has increased its importance in the theatre landscape, producing world-class plays, developing new talent, and acting as a focus for our local community. Though sad to be leaving the venue after 10 years, I'm excited to see how the building develops in the next 50 years'.
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