AUTUMN 2015 SEASON AT THE BUSH THEATRE

•  ‘THE INVISIBLE’ BY REBECCA LENKIEWICZ (WORLD PREMIERE)
  NEW PLAY EXAMINING HUMAN IMPACT OF CUTS TO THE LEGAL AID SYSTEM

• ‘F*CK THE POLAR BEARS’ BY TANYA RONDER (WORLD PREMIERE)
  SURREAL FAMILY DRAMA ABOUT THE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO AFFECT CHANGES TO OUR PLANET

• ‘FORGET ME NOT’ BY TOM HOLLOWAY (EUROPEAN PREMIERE)
  NEW PLAY ABOUT THE TRANSPORT OF BRITISH ORPHANS TO AUSTRALIA IN THE 1940s, 50s AND 60s

• RADAR
  RETURN OF THE BUSH’S NEW WRITING FESTIVAL

The world premiere of F*CK THE POLAR BEARS by Tanya Ronder, and the European premiere of FORGET ME NOT by Tom Holloway will follow the previously announced play THE INVISIBLE by Rebecca Lenkiewicz in the Bush Theatre’s autumn season. The Bush’s acclaimed new writing festival RADAR will also return in November.

First announced in 2014, THE INVISIBLE (3 July – 15 August 2015) is a new play by Rebecca Lenkiewicz about the current government’s reforms to the provision of legal aid. Following cuts totalling £350m, many ordinary people will find their access to justice restricted as their entitlement to free legal aid is withdrawn. Based on interviews with real people at all levels of the British justice system, this play aims to tell the stories of those ordinary people affected by the reforms and to examine how these cuts are driving deeper cracks into the fabric of our society.

Commissioned by the Bush Theatre, F*CK THE POLAR BEARS (11 September – 24 October 2015) by Tanya Ronder is a funny and surreal new family drama about the power of the individual in a world obscured by politics. Gordon has worked hard to get where he is. He’s on the verge of a massive promotion at one of the Big Six energy companies. His wife Serena has worked hard too, and now dreams of a bigger house, a slimmer body, a happier life. But behind their perfect front door, light bulbs are blowing, the drains keep blocking, and a phone inexplicably refuses to charge. As Gordon chases the spectres behind these mysterious events, he spirals out of control and the family are forced to ask whether the life they desire is worth its cost.

FORGET ME NOT (8 December 2015 – 16 January 2016) by Tom Holloway is a co-production between the Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival Theatre. Under an agreement between the British and Australian Governments, between 1945 and 1968, over three thousand British children were told they were orphans and sent to Australia on a promise of warmth, fresh air, abundant food and boundless opportunity. Instead they arrived to deprived institutions where neglect and abuse were the norm. Tom Holloway’s tender new play unearths a secret buried by time that, in turn, exposes a world of historical injustices currently in the limelight. This European premiere reunites the Bush with HighTide Festival Theatre (Incognito by Nick Payne, 2014) and is directed by HighTide’s Artistic Director, Steven Atkinson.

RADAR (November 2015) is the Bush Theatre’s annual festival of new writing, now in its fourth year. Since its inception in 2011 the festival has showcased electrifying new work from Bryony Kimmings, Caroline Horton and Inua Ellams, and has premiered shows including Kieran Hurley’s Beats, Luke Barnes’ Chapel Street and Michaela Coel’s award-winning Chewing Gum Dreams. Last year’s festival also included Simon McBurney in a one-off performance of White Rabbit Red Rabbit. RADAR is hand-picked and curated by the Bush Theatre’s creative team. Full line-up and ticket information to be announced.

The Bush Theatre’s 2015 season has already seen The Royale, directed by Artistic Director Madani Younis, sell out to public and critical acclaim, while Caroline Horton’s Islands split opinion like few other shows in the Bush’s recent history. James Graham’s political thriller The Angry Brigade is the next show in the main house, opening on 6 May – the day before the General Election.

July 2015 will see the Bush Theatre join with Shubbak, London’s festival of contemporary Arab culture, to present Nahda by Sevan K. Greene, produced by Sandpit Arts (15  – 18 July 2015). A collection of four new plays, Nahda examines what it means to be Arab across four strata: familial, political, economical, and social. Initiated by the Mayor of London in 2011, the third edition of Shubbak Festival of Contemporary Arab culture returns to London from 11 to 25 July 2015 and takes place across many of the capital’s leading cultural institutions, including the Bush Theatre.