Chris Bush (born 3 July 1986) is a British playwright and artistic director.

Overview

Bush was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She studied at the University of York and currently resides in London. She is best known for her 2007 work ''

TONY! The Blair Musical ''TONY! The Blair Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical written in 2007 by Chris Bush, director of the White Rose Theatre, with music composed by Ian McCluskey. TONY! follows the premiership of former British prime minister Tony Blair from ...

'', which enjoyed sell-out runs and critical acclaim at the

York Theatre Royal York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St Leonard's Place, in York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 750 people. Whilst the theatre is traditionally a proscenium theatre, it was reconfigured for a season in 2011 to offe ...

and

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

before transferring to the

Pleasance Islington Pleasance Islington (also known as Pleasance London or the Pleasance Theatre) is a fringe theatre in Islington, London, opened in 1995. It is run by the Pleasance Theatre Trust and is the sister venue of the original Pleasance Edinburgh. It ...

as winner of the inaugural Sunday Times NSDF Award for a successful off West-End run. Its sequel, ''Tony of Arabia'', debuted at

the Pleasance The Pleasance is a theatre, bar, sports and recreation complex in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on a street of the same name. It is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and for nine months of the year it serves the Edinburgh University Stud ...

Dome,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 2008, running in rep with the original show. In 2012 Bush made her full-length debut as a writer/performer with ''The Loves I Haven't Known'', a musical comedy performed with regular composing partner Ian McCluskey. In 2012-13 Bush completed a writer's attachment at the

National Theatre Studio The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

, and was the 2013 Pearson Playwright-in-Residence for

Sheffield Theatres Sheffield Theatres is a theatre complex in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It comprises three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse. These theatres make up the largest regional theatre complex outside the ...

, where she wrote ''The Sheffield Mysteries'', a contemporary take on the medieval

Mystery Plays Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...

, directed by Daniel Evans. Bush has been an Artist in Residence for the

Oxford Playhouse Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F.G.M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road, North Oxfo ...

and

, and a member of the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. T ...

Writers' Collective. She has won both the Perfect Pitch Award and Kevin Spacey Foundation Artist of Choice Award for Musical Theatre. She has stated on numerous occasions that her favourite colour is Periwinkle. More recently, she was among the writers to receive first-look deals with ViacomCBS International Studios to start a program to amplify diverse voices.

Selected stage works

* ''

'' (2007)

, Pleasance * ''Tony of Arabia'' (2008)

Theatre Royal, Wakefield The Theatre Royal Wakefield is a theatre in Wakefield, England, which dates back to 1894. The theatre was originally known as the ''Theatre Royal and Opera House'' and dates back to the 1770s. Today's theatre was designed in 1894 as the Wakefiel ...

, Oxford North Wall, Pleasance * ''WOLF'' (2009) The Theatre,

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

and Latitude Festival * ''The Loves I Haven't Known'' (2012) C Venues, Edinburgh * ''20 Tiny Plays about Sheffield'' (2013)

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...

Studio * ''The Sheffield Mysteries'' (2014)

* ''Poking the Bear'' (2014)

Theatre503 Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre, is a theatre located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. The venue is known for promoting the work of new writers. History The the ...

* ''Be, Spoke'' (2014) Sheffield Hallam University/

Welcome to Yorkshire Welcome to Yorkshire (WTY) is the official tourism agency for the traditional county of Yorkshire, the UK's largest county, promoting Yorkshire tourism both nationally and internationally. It was formerly known as the Yorkshire Tourist Board ...

Tour de Yorkshire The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which first took place in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. ...

* ''Larksong'' (2015)

New Vic Theatre The New Vic Theatre is a purpose-built theatre in the round in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The theatre opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. History In the early 1960s, Stephen J ...

* ''A Declaration From the People'' (2015) Royal National Theatre * ''A Dream'' (2016)

* ''What We Wished For'' (2017)

* ''Steel'' (2018)

* ''The Assassination of Katie Hopkins'' (2018)

Theatr Clwyd Theatr Clwyd () is a regional arts centre and producing theatre from Mold, Flintshire, in North East Wales. It opened as Theatr Clwyd in 1976, but was known between 1998 and 2015 as Clwyd Theatr Cymru, before reverting to its original name. His ...

* ''Pericles'' (2018) National Theatre * ''The Changing Room'' (2018) National Theatre Connections * ''The Last Noël'' (2018) The Old Fire Station * '' Standing At The Sky's Edge'' (2019)

* ''Faustus: That Damned Woman'' (2019)

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

* ''Kein Weltuntergang'' (2021)

Schaubühne The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz (Theatre on Lehniner Square) is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. It is a conversion of the ''Universum'' cinema, built according to plans designe ...

, Berlin * ''Rock/ Paper/ Scissors'' (2022)

Political views

Despite lampooning him on stage, Bush described

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

as "a decent man who made some bad decisions", and stated that she had "come to ridicule beautiful Blair not vilify him". Some have argued that Bush is not critical enough of

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

. Writing in

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

, Dominic Cavendish claimed that "the country is angrier than ony, The Blair Musicalallows". Contrarily, Paul Lowman of

The Press (York) ''The Press'' is a local, daily, paid for, newspaper, for North and East Yorkshire. It is published in the City of York by Newsquest Media Group Ltd, a subsidiary of Gannett Company Inc. The ''Yorkshire Evening Press'' was established in 188 ...

has praised Bush's even-handedness, stating that her greatest strength is her ability to "camouflage complex issues in a vastly entertaining, glossy, media friendly package". Bush has stated that she is proud of her British heritage, and is a supporter of immigration to the country. On a 2009 episode of '' Come Dine with Me'' she stated that "what makes erreally proud of Britain sthe number of people who want to be here". Bush champions the

Koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the w ...

and is a frequent donor to the

Australian Koala Foundation The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) is registered Australian charity created in 1986, dedicated to the effective management and conservation of the koala and its habitat. It is the principal non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicate ...

Trivia

In November 2009, Bush appeared on an episode of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

reality television programme '' Come Dine with Me''. Bush placed joint first and received £500 of the £1000 prize, which according to her equated to a "year's wages in the theatre".

References

External links

Agency website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Chris 1986 births Living people Writers from Sheffield Alumni of the University of York 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights