Save the Bush

Published Monday 14 January 2008 at 16:50

Ever since Arts Council England floated its squalid proposal to cut the Bush Theatre’s core funding by 38%, it has been scrabbling about trying to come up with a coherent explanation for its decision.

The latest attempt (as reported in last week’s Stage) seems to be that the Bush has been excessively funded over the last ten years in proportion to its seating capacity. Who on earth came up with the idea that size should in any way be determining factor in assessing the worth of any art form? Are we now supposed to judge the significance of a painting on the dimensions of the canvas?

Anyone who has ever seen a show at the Bush knows that its size is part of the reason for its continued success. The intimate relationship between the audience and the performers creates a unique chemistry and the communication is intense and exhilarating. An actor can not go on that stage and tell lies and a writer can not give him falsehoods to speak - they would be found out straight away. It is this rigorous discipline, dictated by the conditions of the space, that has made the Bush the unquestionable success it is and it ought to be cherished.

ACE identifies the Bush’s peers as the Gate, the Arcola and the Orange Tree theatres, but surely a more appropriate grouping would be the Royal Court, Hampstead and Soho, all of which like the Bush specialise in the production and development of new writing?

The Bush’s track record over the last ten “over-funded” years has been at least as impressive as any of these renowned emporia in discovering, nurturing and producing new work by writers from the widest possible spectrum of backgrounds and presenting them to the highest possible standards to the widest possible audience. It’s what we do - it’s called the pursuit of excellence.

The only significant difference in status between the Bush and these theatres is that all the other three have been given ACE-backed Capital lottery funds to build new or refurbish old buildings and the commensurate increase in core funding it takes to run them and the Bush hasn’t. Which highlights the equally bogus rationale offered by the arts council for the proposed cut - that the Bush has not taken sufficient steps to find a new building.

From the moment I became artistic director in 1996 to the moment I left last year, the staff and board of the Bush have been actively engaged in the search for better but equally intimate premises. The present site has no proper storage, rehearsal, administration or workshop space and audience members regularly complain that the seating is uncomfortable and that the pub is the most unpleasant in London. We have been involved with development projects in White City, Hammersmith, Paddington Basin and the new Westminster Theatre, but at every turn we have been advised by the arts council that there will never be any Capital Lottery funding for a new Bush theatre and there is no guarantee it would financially support the company in new premises. It has never coherently explained why this should be the case and makes its claims about helping organisations to “thrive not survive” sound rather hollow. It also makes it virtually impossible to attract commercial investment in a new building.

Despite all this, the arts council was forever reminding us it was the Bush’s “main stakeholder”. If it believes that to be the case, it should be supporting the excellent new creative team of artistic director Josie Rourke and literary manager Abigail Gonda by insuring a sound and secure future for the theatre and not trying to sabotage them.

Recently an eminent Broadway producer told me he considered the Bush to be one of the most significant theatres in the world. I think he is right. The real reason that the arts council proposes cutting the Bush is because it thinks it can get away with it. It is up to the real stakeholders, the audience who pay for the tickets and the theatre community who have subsidised the Bush for 35 years with their labour, to make sure it doesn’t.

Mike Bradwell

Former artistic director of the Bush Theatre

Portland Road

London