Bush Theatre 2019 season announced

The Bush Theatre has announced its 2019 season.

Eve Leigh's The Trick will premiere from 19 February prior to a national tour. Directed by Roy Alexander Weise, the show is a co-production with Loose Tongue and HighTide and follows grief through the lens of on-stage magic.

Outbox Theatre and the Bush will present And The Rest of Me Floats from 20 February to 16 March. Directed by Ben Buratta, the devised show explores gender expression and identity. The cast includes Josh-Susan Enright, Barry Fitzgerald, Elijah W Harris, Emily Joh Miller, Tamir Amar Pettet and Yasmin Zadeh, with design by Rūta Irbīte, sound design by Dominic Kennedy, lighting design by Jess Bernberg and movement direction by Coral Messam.

Caryl Phillips' 1980 play Strange Fruit will be revived in a new production directed by 2018 RTST Peter Hall Director Award-winner Nancy Medina. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the piece is about two young, black brothers who try to make a future for themselves while feeling caught between two cultures. It runs from 12 June to 20 July.

The Bush will collaborate with the Institut Français du Royaume Uni to present Going Through by Estelle Savasta, translated by Kirsten Hazel Smith. Directed by associate director Omar Elerian (Misty), the piece mixes English and BSL to follow one girl's journey across borders. It runs from 28 March to 27 April.

China Plate and the Bush will present Yvette written and performed by Urielle Klein-Mekongo, directed by Gbolahan Obisesan (The Fishermen). Running from 14 May to 1 June, the piece is a one-woman show with music and spoken word about a stolen childhood. The show was commissioned by the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, and has lighting by Azusa Ono.

The Bush will collaborate with HighTide for a second time in 2019 on Kenneth Emson's Rust, about a couple trying to avoid the drudgery of married life. Directed by Eleanor Rhode, the show runs from 26 June to 27 July.

Iseult Golden and David Horan's Class will have its London premiere from 7 May to 1 June, in association with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Exploring parental reactions to a child's learning difficulties, the piece had a sold-out run in Dublin and won a Fringe First Award when it ran in Edinburgh. The cast features Stephen Jones, Sarah Morris and Will O'Connell with design by Maree Kearns, lighting design by Kevin Smith and sound design by Ivan Birthistle and Vincent Doherty.

The venue will also host the two-week Babylon Festival. Presented by Bush Theatre's Tobi Kyeremateng and Ruthie Osterman, the festival will celebrate the global influences of black and brown people and runs from 4 to 16 February. Events will include music gigs, live podcast shows and main space takeovers from performance collectives.