Kicking off with "Try These On For Size"
The diverse Spring season kicks off in earnest back at The Bush with three staged readings in the increasingly popular TRY THESE ON FOR SIZE series in early February, including Michael Begley’s hilarious take on the last days of Elvis’ entourage, THE GUYS, and a special tribute to the late David Halliwell, who was writing BROTHERS IN ARMS for The Bush when he died last year.
While WHIPPING IT UP opens in the West End, Georgia Fitch’s Bush-commissioned I LIKE MINE WITH A KISS will be up and running at the home base from Valentine’s Day, as the final Bush production directed by Mike Bradwell, artistic director for the last 10 years. This is followed by the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre acclaimed, five-star production of TOM FOOL by Franz Xaver Kroetz, as part of its long awaited tour, through April.
The successful partnership of Simon Bent and director Paul Miller continues with an adaptation of the cult, hit film ELLING, with celebrated actor John Simm returning to The Bush at the end of April. Continuing the international flavour, the season concludes with the extraordinary, mind-bending TRANCE by one of Japan’s leading playwrights, Shoji Kokami. An exceptional value season ticket offer means that all four shows in the season can be seen for just £50 (£35 for concessions).
Try These On For Size rehearsed readings #6
Tuesday 6th February, 8pm
GILBERT IS DEAD by Robin French
directed by Robert Wolstenholme
Lucius Trickett, owner of the most famous taxidermy museum in London, conspires with Queen Victoria and intrepid explorer Gilbert Shirley to disprove Darwin’s Theory of Evolution with a stuffed specimen of the elusive ghost Loris. But what is his beautiful wheelchair-bound daughter's terrible secret, and what happens when the missing link goes missing? Find out in Robin French's gripping Victorian scientific mystery romp.
Thursday 8th February, 8pm
BROTHERS IN ARMS by David Halliwell
Directed by Will Kerley
David Halliwell died in March 2006. He was one of the most important playwrights of his generation and Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs is a modern classic. Brothers in Arms is the play he was writing for The Bush when he died. Tal Gibson runs a Jazz club in Charlbury, and Lee Edding is a visiting musician. 25 years ago they were skinheads, one supporting Leeds, the other Arsenal…
Friday 9 February, 8pm
THE GUYS by Michael Begley
Directed by Gemma Bodinetz
It’s 1964, and the Beatles are taking over the world. But, out of touch with the times and trapped in a succession of mindless movies, Elvis is in limbo, and so are the Guys, his ever-present entourage. Bored of
Paradise and drugged up to their eyeballs, they live a rarified lifestyle in the Bel Air mansion of the fading hillbilly rock star. This is the extraordinary true story of the most famous entertainer in the world, and the Guys who saw it all.
Tickets for Try These On For Size readings are all £6, or £10 for any two
The Bush Theatre presents the world premiere of
I LIKE MINE WITH A KISS by Georgia Fitch
Directed by Mike Bradwell
Wednesday 14th February – Saturday 17th March, Monday – Saturday, 8pm.
Saturday matinees: 24th February, 3rd, 10th & 17th March, 3pm.
“I know this is the last bus now, isn’t it… the night bus to motherhood, and my only chance to get on it. Nothing else is going in that direction…”
Celebrating her 39th birthday with a night out on the tiles, Louise and best friend Annie realise that, despite their best intentions, they’re still nowhere near to being like those enviable ‘modern women who have it all’ – something their friends, family and now even their lovers seem all too happy to remind them of. With a few home truths to face up to, and their friendship teetering on the edge, will the morning after be too tough a pill to swallow? Georgia Fitch’s first play for The Bush Theatre was the highly acclaimed adrenalin…heart, which transferred to the Tokyo International Arts Festival in 2004.
‘Very impressive indeed. Georgia Fitch announces herself as a name to watch” (Telegraph on adrenalin… heart)
The Bush Theatre presents the Citizen’s Theatre production of
TOM FOOL by Franz Xaver Kroetz, translated by Estella Schmid and Anthony Vivis
Directed by Clare Lizzimore
Wednesday 28th March – Saturday 21st April, Monday – Saturday, 8pm.
Saturday matinees: 7th, 14th & 21st April, 3pm.
“Superb…powerful… and unforgettable” ***** (Scotsman)
Tom Fool is an extraordinary and explosive play, which shows that life at its most ordinary is never that far away from disruption, chaos and violence. Otto works in a factory – nuts and bolts. His wife sells slippers; his son is growing up fast. He worries about paying bills, about his marriage and about how he’ll ever retrieve the ballpoint pen he lent to his boss. Locked away in his tiny workroom, he secretly dreams of taking to the skies. After tomorrow, however, he’ll just want his family back.
The Bush Theatre, by arrangement with Trademark, ATG and Finola Dwyer, presents
ELLING based on a novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen.
Stage adaptation by Axel Hellstenius in collaboration with Petter Næss. English adaptation by Simon Bent.
Directed by Paul Miller,
cast includes John Simm
Wednesday 25th April – Saturday 26th May, Monday – Saturday, 8pm.
Saturday matinees 5th, 12th, 19th & 26th May, 3pm.
‘I’m not losing my mind, I can’t, not again. I’ll go mad’
What’s the point of ever going out when you can get pizza delivered, and all the sex you want on the phone? And who needs a bed to sleep in when there’s a perfectly good wardrobe to stand the night in? First there was Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon; now meet Elling and Kjell Bjarne, the Odd Couple of the dysfunctional world. Given a flat in the centre of Oslo by social services, their mission is to re-assimilate themselves back into society. It’s that or return to the asylum. All they have to do is convince their social worker, Frank, that they really are ‘normal’…
Based on the award-winning cult film, Simon Bent’s hilarious adaptation of Elling marks the fourth writer-director collaboration between Simon Bent and Paul Miller for The Bush Theatre, following Bad Company, Goldhawk Road and Sugar Sugar. Paul Miller also directed the acclaimed Kingfisher Blue at The Bush in 2005. John Simm’s recent television roles include Life on Mars, State of Play and Sex Traffic. He last appeared at The Bush in Simon Bent’s Goldhawk Road.
Third Stage and Amy Kassai Ltd in association with The Bush Theatre present the world premiere of a new English version of
TRANCE, written & directed by Shoji Kokami
translated by Amy Kassai,
dramaturgy by Tony Bicât,
associate director Lucy Foster
Wednesday 6th – Saturday 30th June, Monday – Saturday, 8pm.
Saturday matinees: 16th, 23rd & 30th June, 3pm.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people there are who secretly believe they are from another planet. I don’t think we should treat them as a problem”
When a chance meeting reunites three old school friends, now making their living as a struggling writer, a psychiatrist, and a drag artist, they are all too eager to get reacquainted. But as the stories they tell each other become more and more surreal – from unrequited passions and split personalities to male eunuchs and escaped Japanese Emperors – they start to question their own and each other’s sanity, with hilarious consequences. Shot through with Shoji Kokami’s trademark wit, ingenuity and wicked humour, Trance
is a story of three solitary individuals, their quest for love, and the true meaning of their existence.
“Kokami is the leading figure of his generation in Japanese theatre. His dramatic creativity reflects the youth of contemporary Japan” (Yukio Ninagawa).
October 15, 2010
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