In response to this situation, The Bush has announced The Broken Space season, in which a festival of ten short new plays will be presented as a creative response to working without a lighting grid. The season will run Oct. 6-25 with a press night on Oct. 7. Each evening is divided into three themes, with performances at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 PM. Different plays will be presented each week in the first and final slots; St. Petersburg, by Irish playwright Declan Feenan, will be presented nightly at 8:30 PM.
In the 7:30 PM slot – presented under the umbrella title Falling Light — are three short new monologues performed just as it goes dark, lit by the street lights of Shepherd's Bush Green through the uncovered windows of the theatre. The season will debut Oct. 6-11 with Sea Wall, a new play by Simon Stephens (Harper Regan at the National, Pornography at the Traverse in Edinburg), directed by George Perrin, co-artistic director of Nabokov. In the second week, from Oct. 13-18, the slot will comprise Bufonidae by Bryony Lavery (Frozen at the National), directed by Nathan Curry (who assisted Howard Davies on A Moon for the Misbegotten at the Old Vic and The Life of Galileo at the National, and is artistic director of Tangled Feet). In the third week, from Oct. 20-25, will be The War on Terror by Neil LaBute (currently represented in the West End by Fat Pig) with a cast that includes Michelle Terry.
The 8:30 PM slot for all three weeks will be the world premiere of St. Petersburg, directed by the Bush's new associate director, James Grieve, and featuring a cast that comprises Geoffrey Hutchings, Mairead McKinley, Bradley Ford and Zak Bann-Murray. This will be the first professional production of this writer's work.
At 9:30 PM, under the umbrella title What the Dark Feels Like, will be six ghostly new plays, specially commissioned by the theatre, which will play in rep in near or total darkness. These will comprise The Flooded Grave, written by Anthony Weigh (whose 2,000 Feet Away was presented at the Bush) and directed by the Bush's artistic director Josie Rourke (running Oct. 6-8); He Said…., written by Mike Bartlett (My Child and Contractions at the Royal Court and Artefacts at the Bush) and directed by Anthony Weigh (Oct. 9-11); Two Cigarettes, written by Jack Thorne (Fanny and Faggot and Stacey at the Trafalgar Studios, "Shameless" on TV) and directed by Anthea Williams, associate director at the Bush (Oct. 13-15); His Ghostly Heart, written by Ben Schiffer (50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at the Bush) and directed by Hamish Pirie (Oct. 16-18); Psychogeography by Lucy Kirkwood (Tinderbox at the Bush), running Oct. 20-22; and Little Dolls by Nancy Harris (Love in a Glass Jar at Dublin's Abbey) and directed by Charlote Gwinner (Oct. 23-25).
To book tickets contact the box office at 020 873 5050 or visit www.bushtheatre.co.uk.
