Bush Theatre Archives - Page 2 of 2

28Oct

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Old Bridge – Bush Theatre

Old Bridge by Igor Mimic is a powerful drama about the effects of civil conflict on the lives of ordinary people. Set in the town of Mostar in the former Yugoslavia, it tells the experience of four young people enjoying life in the way all young adults do when the brutal effects of the civil war which broke up that country changed their lives in ways they could never have imagined or wanted. It is told through the eyes of Emina, now in her later years, who was one of a group of four youngsters who lived through these epic events and is in effect a dramatised narrative with her account of events delivered directly to the audience , while the other four actors dramatised scenes interwoven with her storyline. The set design by Oli Townsend was empty of scenery o...

19Oct

By Pooja SivaramanNo Comments

London

10 Nights – Bush Theatre

A playwright once told me that a good play will tell you exactly what they’re about in the title itself, because in storytelling, simple is good. 10 Nights is about a young man named Yasser and his decision to take part in itikaf for the last ten nights of Ramadan. The story is at once delightfully simple and gracefully complicated. Originally a one-man show written by Shahid Iqbal Khan, the production is directed by Kash Arshad and enacted by three people: Zaqi Ismail as Yasser, Safyan Iqbal as Aftab (Yasser’s friend who we find out early on has died), and Sumayya Si-Tayeb / Chandrika Gopalakrishnan who acts both as Aneela (Aftab’s girlfriend) and the performance interpreter of the show. The show is audio described, is captioned in English and Urdu, and inventively integrates British Sig...

16Jul

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Lava – Bush Theatre

Lava is more than just a play about race and identity – it is about a never-ending struggle to be acknowledged. Written by Benedict Lombe, the text was originally conceptualized in 2020 as part of the Bush Theatre's Protest Series, a digital artistic response to the murder of George Floyd. A little over a year later and after a historical conviction in the legal trial, a lot has changed for the global Black community but equally, a lot has not – case in point being the England football team’s black players being subjected to racist abuse and trolling just a few days ago in the aftermath of a Euro Cup loss. Lava is not only an urgent call to acknowledge this moment in time for the Black community but a frantic imploration to recognize the world’s complicity in the past and the present. ...

22May

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Harm – Bush Theatre

Harm is a one-woman show, written by Phoebe Eclair-Powell and produced by the Bush Theatre, which explores the fickle nature of human relationships in the backdrop of social media obsession and the ends to which one would go to attain the #blessed life. Commissioned with the support of the UK Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, the show is a thrilling and sharp-witted commentary on the effects of social media and isolation. It was staged live at the Holloway Theatre which serves as the Bush's main space with all social distancing protocols being followed — reduced seating, separate entry points, mask on policy unless exempt – which was reassuring. At the centre of Harm is an unhappy estate agent, played by Kelly Gough, who finds herself stuck in a dead-end job with little to look forwa...