The Bush Theatre Announces New Artistic Director

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Josie Rourke to take playhouse "into its bold and promising future"

The Directors of The Bush Theatre have announced that Josie Rourke has been appointed the new Artistic Director of The Bush Theatre.

Currently a freelance director, Josie has already established herself as an impressive director of new writing since working at the Royal Court where her credits include Loyal Women by Gary Mitchell and Crazyblackmuthafuckin’Self by Deobia Oparei. She directed the premiere of World Music at the Sheffield Crucible and the Donmar Warehouse. Josie trained at the Donmar and has directed four productions there in total, most recently David Mamet's The Cryptogram.

She has also directed new plays and modern classics as Associate Director at the Sheffield Theatres and chose to direct the least performed Shakespeare play, King John, creating a sell-out production for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival last year.

Josie Rourke says, “The Bush inspires, nurtures and champions playwrights and I am thrilled to have been invited to become its Artistic Director. I look forward to working with Fiona Clark, the Directors and the staff of the theatre to take The Bush into its bold and promising future.”

The Bush Theatre Chairman, John Shakeshaft says, “I’m delighted to welcome Josie as Artistic Director. There has been considerable interest in this position and Josie’s vision for the future of The Bush was particularly inspiring and stood out from an incredibly strong field. Josie’s collaborative approach will celebrate the strong canon of new work created throughout the Bush’s 35 year history whilst offering a distinctive artistic leadership that will nurture and celebrate the most visceral and potent voices of our era, and ensure that The Bush continues to play a leading role in shaping the future of British theatre.”

Josie will join Fiona Clark, Executive Producer for the past seven years, jointly to lead the company in realising its ambitious future plans.

The Bush has an unparalleled reputation for developing new writers many of whom have become established names throughout the entertainment industry and often return to its intimate home in West London. Such writers include Stephen Poliakoff, Philip Ridley, Sharman Macdonald, Jonathan Harvey, Catherine Johnson, and more recently Georgia Fitch, Jack Thorne and Steve Thompson.

The Bush has also toured nationally and internationally playing to audiences of over 40,000 annually at home and abroad. Recent successes include a tour of Mammals by Amelia Bullmore and After the End by Dennis Kelly. The theatre runs an extensive Writers Development Programme and a new education, training and professional development scheme - bushfutures.

 

March 16, 2007