Theatre News

Peter Gill Makes Bush Debut, School in Session

Peter Gill will make his Bush Theatre debut next month with the UK premiere of American playwright Annie Baker’s The Aliens. It kicks off the Bush’s new autumn/spring season, which also includes the Edinburgh Fringe transfer of DC Jackson’s My Romantic History and a “School Season” of two plays about modern education, performed in rep by a ten-strong ensemble (one of the largest casts ever assembled at the tiny, 80-seat Bush).

The programme is as follows:

  • The Aliens, 20 September – 16 October (previews from 15 September) – In a Vermont cafe one summer, dropouts KJ and Jasper draw 17-year-old Evan into their world of magic mushrooms, philosophical musings and great bands that never were. The Aliens premiered Off-Broadway in April 2010. Baker’s other plays Body Awareness and Circle Mirror Transformation, which won an Obie Award for Best New American Play. A playwright and director, Peter Gill was founder of Riverside Studios and the National Theatre and a veteran of the Royal Court in the 1960s. His recent directing credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, Gaslight, The Voysey Inheritance and Scenes from the Big Picture.
  • My Romantic History, 25 October – 20 November (previews from 20 October) – DC Jackson’s new play centres on an office romance between two people who can’t give over their childhood sweethearts. Iain Robertson, Alison O’Donnell and Rosalind Sydney star in the production directed by Lyndsey Turner, whose recent credits include Laura Wade’s Posh and Alice. My Romantic History premieres this month at the Edinburgh Fringe, running at the Traverse Theatre from 5 to 29 August, and then tours to Birmingham and Sheffield before its Bush dates.
  • The “School Season” – The Knowledge, 17 January to 19 February 2011 (previews from 12 January)John Donnelly’s play, drawing on his own experiences from working in primary and secondary schools, examines what happens to a young teacher in a failing school. Charlotte Gwinner directs the production, which runs in rep with Little Platoons.
  • The “School Season” – Little Platoons, 17 January to 19 February 2011 (previews from 12 January) – This new dark comedy by Steve Waters (whose The Contingency Plan was a hit at the Bush last year) is written in response to the new coalition government’s offer to enable parents to set up their own free school. Nathan Curry directs the production, which runs in rep with The Knowledge.
  • Moment, 28 February to 26 March 2011 (previews from 25 February) – On a seemingly ordinary evening, an Irish family sit down to tea. The difference tonight is that child-killer Nial is back from prison with some news to share and a conscience to clear. A Tall Tales production, Moment is written by the company’s artistic director, Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan, and directed by David Horan.