Return visits for award-winning playwrights and creatives as the Bush continues to launch, establish, and sustain careers for the most exciting writing talent.
The theatre welcomes new and returning actors including Omari Douglas, Wil Johnson, Pooky Quesnel and Coral Wylie.
Tickets for the new season are priced from £15 and are on sale from 12pm today.
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Bush Theatre today announces productions until the end of May 2025, confirming its position at the forefront of new writing, and reaffirming its dedication to talent development and community engagement.
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In the theatre’s main house, the Holloway Theatre, Bush Theatre’s Emerging Writers’ Group alumnus Coral Wylie teams up with Overflow director Debbie Hannan in February for their debut play, Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew. Funny, affecting and beautifully queer, Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew journeys through one family’s efforts to reconcile the past, so they can build a better future. The cast of this world-premiere production includes the writer alongside BAFTA and Olivier Award nominee Omari Douglas (It’s a Sin and Constellations), Wil Johnson (Leave Taking) and Pooky Quesnel (Ralph & Katie).
In April, Speed reunites the Olivier award-nominated team of writer Mohamed-Zain Dada and director Milli Bhatia (Blue Mist) in a hilarious and heartfelt break-neck journey through the daily annoyances and deep-buried secrets that leave us spinning. Cast to be announced.
Already announced in the Holloway Theatre, Daniel Bailey returns this month, following the success of Red Pitch in the West End to direct another Bush Emerging Writers Group alumnus Beru Tessema’s Wolves on Road, a co-commission with Tamasha, which takes us on a thrilling deep-dive into the mysterious world of cryptocurrency and with a cast including Alma Eno, Hassan Najib, Ery Nzaramba, and Kieran Taylor-Ford with Jamael Westman and Tom Moutchi.
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In the Studio, Vital Xposure make their debut at the Bush in January with …blackbird hour a visceral and moving exploration of a queer Black woman’s call for loving oneself when love has made itself scarce, directed by malakaï sergeant. A finalist for the Bruntwood Prize, Women’s Prize for Playwriting, and the Alfred Fagon Award, babirye bukilwa’s profound insight into caring and belonging begins where their critically acclaimed playwriting debut …cake, seen at Theatre Peckham, ended and visits Bush Theatre as part of a national tour. Vital Xposure has made disabled-led, radical, political performance championing hidden stories and marginalised voices for over a decade. Their theatre productions blend cutting-edge performance with powerful storytelling rarely seen on stage. Performances of …blackbird hour will feature integrated creative captioning and integrated audio description and be performed in a Chilled environment.
Currently in the Studio and playing until 9 November is Statues, written and performed by Bush Young Company alumnus Azan Ahmed, alongside Jonny Khan which explores the impact of loss and what you can gain from it. Statues is directed by Esme Allman. This is followed in November by Tender, a dazzling and moving new story of two people who find each other without even knowing they were looking. Written by Eleanor Tindall (Before I Was A Bear, Soho Theatre) and directed by Emily Aboud, Tender is produced by Broccoli Arts and Jessie Anand Productions, the team behind last year’s record-breaking Bush Studio hit This Might Not Be It.
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Lynette Linton, the Bush Theatre’s Artistic Director said, ‘It’s a bitter-sweet feeling to announce my penultimate season as Artistic Director of The Bush, though exciting as it shows just what we’re all about, developing new writers and creatives and inviting them into the Bush family. For Coral Wylie, one of our Emerging Writer’s Group alumnus who has also performed in the Bush Young Company, ‘Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew’ is their first show to be produced on a main stage. For babirye bukilwa and Mohamad-Zain Dada it’s the first visit by writers I’m a huge fan of.
‘Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew’ also marks the launch of the Bush Theatre Producers’ Circle. This new initiative invites philanthropic individuals to join us at the start of the next great playwright's story, and from page to stage will bring them closer to a Bush Theatre production than ever before.’
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The Bush Theatre’s new season
In the Holloway Theatre
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A Bush Theatre production
Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew
Written by Coral Wylie
Directed by Debbie Hannan
Design by Max Johns
Cast includes Omari Douglas, Wil Johnson, Pooky Quesnel and Coral Wylie
8 February - 22 March 2025
Monday - Saturday at 7.30 pm
Wednesday matinees - 19. 26 February, 5. 12. 19 March at 2.30 pm
Saturday matinees - 15, 22 February, 1, 8, 15. 22 March at 2.30 pm
Relaxed performances - Saturday 22 February at 2.30 pm & Thursday 13 March at 7.30 pm
Captioned performance - Thursday 27 February at 7.30 pm & Saturday 8 March at 2.30 pm
Audio-described performances and touch tours - Saturday 1 March at 2.30 pm & Thursday 6 March at 7.30 pm
Press Night - Thursday 13 February at 7 pm
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"A garden without a traditional English rose is a cardinal sin - and I committed eight of those before my Ready Brek. - D x"
Soil-soaked jeans and dirt under their fingernails, 19-year-old Pip is trying to find themself through gardening. But with a Dad more interested in plants than people and a Mum stuck in the past, they’re left to ponder life’s questions alone.
Until one day, they uncover a jacket in the attic that's been gathering dust. Bold, vibrant and very 80s, in its pocket lies a diary belonging to someone long gone. Swept up in the mystery, Pip is determined to dig into the past, unearthing secrets about an old friend their Mum and Dad don't want to talk about…
Funny, affecting and beautifully queer, Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew journeys through one family’s efforts to reconcile the past to plant the seeds of a better future. This world-premiere production is written by Emerging Writers’ Group alumni Coral Wylie, directed by Debbie Hannan (Overflow), and with a cast including the writer alongside BAFTA and Olivier Award nominee Omari Douglas (It’s a Sin and Constellations), Wil Johnson (Leave Taking) and Pooky Quesnel (Ralph & Katie)
This production is generously supported by Jerwood Foundation, Bush Theatre Producers Circle & Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.
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A Bush Theatre production
Speed
Written by Mohamed-Zain Dada
Directed by Milli Bhatia
4 April – 17 May 2025
Monday - Saturday at 7.30 pm
Wednesday matinees - 16, 23, 30 April, 1, 7, 14 May at 2.30 pm
Saturday matinees - 12, 19, 26 April, 3, 10, 17 May at 2.30 pm
Relaxed performances - Saturday 19 April, 2.30 pm & Thursday 8 May 7.30 pm
Captioned performances - Wednesday 23 April, 7.30 pm & Saturday 3 May 2.30 pm
Audio-described performances and touch tours - Saturday 26 April 2.30 pm & Thursday 1 May 7.30 pm
Press Night - Thursday 10 April at 7 pm
A nurse, a delivery driver, and an entrepreneur walk into a speed awareness course…
Abz is the UK’s leading expert on road safety and the most in-demand course facilitator north of the M25.
In an entirely average hotel basement somewhere in Birmingham, three speedsters are summoned to his class with a choice: change your ways or lose your licence.
But a routine training course quickly veers into a tumultuous group therapy session as they are forced to confront the real question: why are you all so angry?
Speed is a break-neck journey through the daily annoyances and deep-buried secrets that leave us spinning. Hilarious and heartfelt, this world premiere production reunites writer Mohamed-Zain Dada and director Milli Bhatia after the wild success of the Olivier Award-nominated, Blue Mist (Royal Court).
This production is generously supported by Charles Holloway OBE.
