Chris Bush

Chris is an award-winning playwright and lyricist and the Artistic Director of White Rose Theatre. His last show, TONY! The Blair Musical played to entirely sell-out crowds and rave reviews in York and Edinburgh before transferring to the Pleasance Islington as winner of the Sunday Times NSDF Edinburgh Fringe Competition. Chris's first play, Harsh Reality, won the National Young Playwright's Festival in 2000 and toured the South East of England. Since then he has worked continually in theatre, successes including the award-winning and 'affectionately blasphemous' Man & God performed by Rotherham Rep in 2004 and revived by White Rose in 2006. During his time at the University of York (from which he graduated in 2007 with distinction in English/Writing & Performance) Chris was Technical Director of the Drama Barn Theatre, where he staged, designed, lit, produced and performed in over thirty productions. Chris is also a trustee of Young Writer magazine, member of the Yorkshire based Writing Squad and has worked on projects with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Awards & Nominations:

Sunday Times NSDF Edinburgh Competition - WINNER: TONY! The Blair Musical
MTM: Musical Theatre Matters Edinburgh Awards - NOMINEE (best company): TONY! The Blair Musical
Zebra Awards (for graphic design) - HIGHLY COMMENDED: Man & God
Rotherham One Act Playwriting Competition - WINNER: Man & God
National Young Playwright's Festival - WINNER: Harsh Reality

Man & God - written & directed by Chris, Edinburgh Fringe 2006	TONY! The Blair Musical, written and directed by Chris in 2007

As Writer/Director:

The Ash Grove - Assistant Director/Designer (White Rose Theatre: York 2007)
Touched - Assistant Director (ILW Productions: Tabard Theatre, London 2007)
TONY! The Blair Musical - Writer/Director(White Rose Theatre: York Theatre Royal,
C Venues Edinburgh, Pleasance Islington 2007)
Man & God - Writer/Director (White Rose Theatre: Smirnoff Baby Belly Edinburgh, Rotherham Arts Festival, Drama Barn York 2006)
Olympia - Writer/Director (White Rose Theatre: Drama Barn York, 2005)
Dearly Departed - Writer (Brave New World Theatre: Diorama Arts Centre London, 2005)
There's a Hole in my Beckett! - Writer/Director
(White Rose Theatre, Drama Barn York, 2005)
The Lesson - Writer/Performer (The Writing Squad: Off The Shelf Literary
Festival Sheffield, 2004)
Harsh Reality - Writer (Theatre Exchange: Wimbledon Studio, Harlequin Redhill, Barn Theatre Oxted, 2000)

Acting credits include:

Bertozzo in Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Dario Fo and Messerschmann in Ring Round the Moon; Christopher Fry after Jean Anouilh (both at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield) Valentine and others in Faust; Goethe (Merlin Theatre Sheffield, Steiner Theatre London, Das Goetheanum, Basle) and numerous roles at the Drama Barn, York.

Training:

At York, Chris trained with practitioners such as Max Stafford Clarke, Barry Rutter, Genista McIntosh, Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran, Anthony Dunn, Robert Holman, Mike Cordner and Mary Luckhurst. In Sheffield Chris worked with Act One Drama Studio & Agency, The Merlin Theatre, Blank Slate Theatre Company, BBC Radio Sheffield and The Writing Squad.

Chris poses with the cast of TONY! The Blair Musical in 2007

Olympia - written and directed by Chris in 2005