The Bush Theatre has today announced a series of new masterclasses, which will offer an insight into theatre by leading practitioners including writer Jonathan Harvey (1 Sept), writer, and director Rikki Beadle-Blair (11 Sept), director Anna Himali Howard (16 Sept) and actor and Senior Artistic Associate of the Bush Theatre, Adjoa Andoh, (21 Sept).
Participants will be able to attend the masterclasses in person in the Holloway Theatre at the Bush, or join from the comfort of their home via Zoom, where there will be a dedicated co-ordinator to field their questions and responses. The sessions will develop skills in writing, directing, and performance for all levels.
Tickets are on sale online, with auditorium places priced at £30 and online places priced at £20. There are a limited number of bursary places available and concession pricing. Check out what’s on offer below:
Tuesday 1 September, 5pm-6.30pm
On Playwriting: Q&A with Jonathan Harvey
Tickets £20-£30
Since penning the hit play Beautiful Thing, which premiered at the Bush Theatre, Jonathan Harvey has become one of the UK’s best-loved writers, creating BAFTA-nominated sit-com Gimme Gimme Gimme and writing some of Coronation Street’s most gripping episodes.
Jonathan will be joining Lynette Linton to discuss his playwriting process, share advice on navigating the theatre and television industries, and answer questions from audience members.
Jonathan Harvey is a writer for the stage and screen. His plays have been performed at the Bush Theatre, Royal Court, Hampstead Theatre, National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, and in the West End. He has won the John Whiting Award, the George Devine Award, two Manchester Evening News Awards, and an Evening Standard Award. He was a writer in residence at the Bush in 1995, and the Bush has produced his plays Boom Bang a Bang and Beautiful Thing. Beautiful Thing transferred to the West End and was made into a feature film for Film Four. It went on to win many awards internationally, and Best Film at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. For television, Jonathan is on the writing team of Coronation Street and Call the Midwife. He has also written the BAFTA-nominated sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme and Beautiful People (Best Comedy, Banff TV Festival) Jonathan won the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Continuing Drama in 2109 for his episode about the aftermath of Aidan’s suicide, also the British Soap Award for Best Episode and the British Soap Award for Best Scene for Gail’s monologue. The monologue was also nominated for a BAFTA for TV Moment of the Year. With Stephen K Amos, Jonathan co-wrote 3 series of the radio sitcom What Does the K Stand For? He has also written six novels, all published by Pan Macmillan: All She Wants, The Confusion of Karen Carpenter, The Girl Who Just Appeared, The Secrets We Keep, The History of Us, and The Years She Stole.
Friday 11 September, 5pm-7pm
Rikki Beadle-Blair: How to have a creative career
Tickets £20-£30
Join Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE for a fun, butt-kicking workshop to give you everything you need to take control of your creative working life.
A writer, director, composer, choreographer, designer, producer, and performer, Rikki has mentored a great many creatives including Noel Clarke, Joe Cole, Somalia Seaton, Tom Wright, Alexis Gregory, and Bush Theatre Artistic Director Lynette Linton.
Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE is a writer, director, composer, choreographer, designer, producer, and performer working in film, theatre, television, and radio. Having written and directed 30 plays over the last 20 years along with several here feature films, shorts, and tv episodes and series, he has won several awards including the Sony Award, the Los Angeles Outfest Screenwriting, and Outstanding Achievement awards. Rikki’s passion for encouraging creativity and business sense in others has led him to becoming a committed mentor to a great many writers, actors, composers, and directors around the world.
Wednesday 16 September, 2.30pm-5.30pm
Anna Himali Howard: Directing new writing
Tickets £20-£30
How do you work with a writer to bring their new script to life?
Director and theatre maker Anna Himali Howard will take you through her tried and tested approaches to directing new writing and collaborating with writers, using Zia Ahmed’s critically acclaimed I Wanna Be Yours, which she directed at the Bush Theatre in November 2019, as a focus point.
Anna Himali Howard is a director and theatre-maker. Her work as a Director includes I Wanna Be Yours (Paines Plough/Bush Theatre), A Small Place (Gate Theatre), Albatross for NEW (RWCMD/Paines Plough/Gate Theatre). As a theatre maker work includes Jane Anger (Yard Theatre Live Drafts), mahabharat (Camden People’s Theatre), The Beanfield (New Diorama, National tour 2016). Anna was Associate Director on Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Drywrite/Soho Theatre international tour). She was Paines Plough’s Trainee Director in 2016 and is an alumnus of the Birmingham REP Foundry. She was recently a Staff Director at the National Theatre, London.
Monday 21 September, 2pm-5pm
Approaching unfamiliar texts with Adjoa Andoh
Tickets £20-£30
You’ve got a last-minute audition.
You’re reading in for someone.
You start rehearsals soon and you want to get prepped.
How do we prepare for unfamiliar texts? Take an afternoon with Adjoa Andoh to work through a variety of texts and try out some practical approaches.
Adjoa Andoh is an actor, writer, and director. She plays Dowager Duchess, Lady Danbury in the new Shondaland series Bridgerton for Netflix, and is also to be seen this summer in Brighton an Indy movie starring Lesley Sharp & Phil Davis. Film & TV include Fractured (Netflix), Silent Witness (BBC), Acceptable Risk (Amazon Prime), Invictus, Adulthood, Brotherhood, Dr Who, Casualty, Law & Order UK. On stage, Adjoa conceived, co-directed, and played Richard II in the 2019 first all women of colour Shakespeare at The Globe, with co-director Lynette Linton. The film version is currently on YouTube, produced by her company Swinging The Lens. Troilus & Cressida (Royal Shakespeare Company), Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), Great Expectations (Bristol Old Vic), Leave Taking (Bush Theatre), Black Panther, What Assatta Taught Me (Gate Theatre) Over the last 30 years Adjoa has worked on BBC radio as an actor, writer, director, a Carlton Hobbs Award & Norman Beaton Fellowship judge, and was the narrator in the recently broadcast dramatization of Maya Angelou 6 autobiographies, which won the Outstanding Achievement award at this year’s Radio Drama awards Adjoa is also the award-winning narrator of over 150 audiobooks. Adjoa is a Senior Associate Artist at The Bush and an Associate Artist at the RSC, a RADA audition panelist for over 15 years, visiting director at RADA, Rose Bruford, and ICAT. She spoke at this year’s HowTheLightGetsIn festival online, on race and art. She performed and discussed Anne Bronté for the BBC Big Book Weekend 2020. Adjoa was a guest artist on this summer’s National Theatre of Scotland/Edinburgh Book Festival Makar to Makar with Jackie Kay and a judge for the inaugural 2020 BAME sci-fi writer’s Award for Gollancz. Adjoa’s Ted Talk at Tedx Bermuda on trans parenting is also online. She is a regular panelist on the Jeremy Vine Show. She is a Fairtrade Ambassador.
To find out more about the new series or to book your tickets, hit the button below!