The Bush theatre has revealed a line-up of productions, stretching from September 2009 to April 2010, packed with award-winning talent including 2009 George Devine Award-winner Nick Payne, Edinburgh Fringe First-winner Stefan Golaszewski and 2007 Catherine Johnson Award-winner James Graham.
The season opens with the return of playwright Jack Thorne to the Bush theatre, where his piece When You Cure Me was previously staged in 2005. Thorne’s new play 2nd May 1997 (8 September to 10 October) tells three personal stories sparked by the change in government after 18 years of Conservative rule.
Payne’s If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (17 October to 21 November) is the tale of overweight child Anna, who, when she stands up to the school bullies, finds herself suspended and at home with her maverick uncle Terry, developing an unlikely friendship. It is directed by Bush theatre Artistic Director Josie Rourke.
The Christmas season sees a London debut for The Stefan Golaszewski Plays (2 December to 9 January), two monologues played together for the first time, depicting two very different stages in one man’s life. Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved is set in 1999 when the 18-year-old Golaszewski is in love and unable to cope. Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower revisits the character in 2056, two years after the death of his wife, as he performs a play dedicated to her memory. In addition to writing the monologues, the multi-talented Golaszewski also performs them.
The new year opens with the latest offering from Graham, The Whiskey Taster (20 January to 20 February). This new play, from the playwright who also contributed to the Bush theatre’s current production Suddenlossofdignity.com, follows high flying marketing wonder kids whose world is slowed down at the most inappropriate moment when they hire an old Scottish Whisky Taster to help them on a new campaign.
Penelope Skinner’s Eigengrau closes the season, running from 10 March to 10 April. The biting black comedy tells the story of two sets of flatmates thrown together by circumstance, whose beliefs are tested to devastating effect.
The West London venue also revealed that it aims to open a new social networking website, Bushgreen, with the hope of bringing together playwrights and theatre practitioners with producers “to lead and inspire best practice in the presenting of new plays”.
MA