Bush Theatre "To Fight Right Wing" When It Re-Opens

The Bush Theatre - closed until 2017

Here at The Shepherd's Bush Blog we've long been big fans of the Bush Theatre on the Uxbridge road, currently undergoing a major renovation.

Lately though we've noticed a bit of a detour into some less entertaining and more obviously political programming. Think the potty-mouthed "F*ck the Polar Bears", "Islands", a sweary rant about tax avoiders, or "Boys Will Be Boys", a cliche-ridden polemic about sexism in the City.

And now, it's official. The Bush Theatre artistic director Madani Younis has vowed - not to put on great theatre entertainment - but to "fight the right wing" when the building re-opens.

Trouble is - Is this what audiences want? And should public money be spent on such an overtly political goal?

According to a piece in yesterday's Evening Standard, Younis says that "with the global political context shifting, and the emergence of pervasive Right-wing politics, it’s more important than ever that artists and theatres agitate as well as entertain".

And writers won't be selected purely on the basis of the quality of their writing.  Now, "half of all work [will] come from ethnic minority writers or people from a refugee background."

All of which would be fine if the Bush Theatre was a private institution which paid its own way. But it isn't. It is heavily subsidised with public funds, including money from the National Lottery, the Arts Council, and our local Council.  The refurbishment of the theatre alone has cost £4m, much of which is public money.  Taxpayers of all political stripes, right and left, are contributing their resources - whether they like it or not.

We think it's time that the Bush Theatre concentrated on making great theatre, and great entertainment. It surely isn't right to follow an explicitly political agenda which is potentially divisive - and inappropriate for an institution heavily dependent on public money.

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