SEA WALL

After a sell out and critically acclaimed run at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, the Bush brings its production of Simon Stephens’ Sea Wall back to London.

Please note that the performance will take place at The Bush at the Library 7 Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush, W12 8LJ. Tickets can be collected from the Bush at the Library, one hour before the performance.

Things for Alex are good. He loves his wife, his daughter, his city, his job. But sometimes the force of life can crash against you. Sometimes everything you thought you could always depend on can be taken away.

Sea Wall is a story about family, fear and the things that can’t be undone. It is award-winning playwright Simon Stephens’ new play. His previous plays include Pornography (Traverse Theatre, 2008), Port (Pearson Award for Best Play), Christmas, On the Shore of the Wide World (Olivier Award for Best New Play), Motortown, and Harper Regan.

Olivier Award Winner Andrew Scott’s recent theatre credits include Roaring Trade at the Soho Theatre and Vertical Hour on Broadway.

We’re thrilled to bring you this performance as part of the launch of The Bush at the Library – the new script reference library which will be housed at 7 Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush, W12 8LJ from 5 October. So do drop by to browse through our collection of scripts and performing arts related books.

Sea Wall was first shown at the Bush Theatre in 2008 as part of the Broken Space Season.

This is a past event
"One of the most devastating 30 minutes you are ever likely to experience in the theatre... The extraordinary power of Sea Wall is that it is concerned with both the domestic and the majestic. 'Why' is the unspoken question that resonates around the theatre."
Guardian
"It's a delicate wisp of a thing, like a curl of cigarette-smoke exhaled in a moment of mournful reverie. After contact with it, sure enough, your eyes are welling up, and you're starting to choke... The delight of this solo, directed by George Perrin, is also two-fold. First, there's the quality of Stephens's writing, which has a rich feel for the embarrassments, detours, short-cuts and comic self-deprecations of everyday speech. But holding it together is a pitch-perfect performance from the actor Andrew Scott, telling the tale to his audience directly, on a bare stage, under the most basic lighting."
Daily Telegraph
"Andrew Scott's performance is brilliant."
Financial Times
"If you want to see the small but perfectly formed in all its glory, look no further than Simon Stephens's Sea Wall, first seen at the Bush last year. Performed with devastating intensity by Andrew Scott, this monologue is an exquisitely written and moving account of the fragility of our existence and how the good life can suddenly turn bad without warning."
Guardian
"Engaging and devastating...packs an enormous emotional punch"
Independent
"Electrifyingly superb...a staggeringly harrowing piece of writing and a superlative production. Not to be missed."
Independent on Sunday
"Beautifully realised"
The Herald

Photo & video

Direction
Designer
Lighting

Cast

Andrew Scott

Theatre Includes Roaring Trade (Soho Theatre); The Vertical Hour (Broadway, Drama league nomination); Dying City (Royal Court); Aristocrats (National Theatre); A Girl In A Car With A Man (Olivier award), Playing the Victim, Crave, Dublin Carol (Royal Court); The Coming World (Soho Theatre); The Cavalcaders (Tricycle); Long Day's Journey Into Night (Gate, Dublin); The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, Six Characters In Search Of An Author, The Marriage of Figaro, A Woman Of No Importance (Abbey theatre, Dublin); The Lonesome West (Druid/Royal Court)

Television includes John Adams, My life in Film, Band of Brothers, Longitude, The American.

Film includes The Duel, Little White Lie, Dead Bodies, (Best Actor, Irish Film Awards. Shooting Star Award, Berlin FF), Saving Private Ryan, Korea, Nora.

@bushtheatre

Bush Green

Conversations, dispatches and ideas from the Bush Theatre.

Go to BushGreen
Charles Holloway OBE: From West London to the West End

Benedict Lombe’s play Shifters transferring from the Bush Theatre to the West End was a milestone moment: for the artists involved, the audiences they engaged, and the future of British theatre it will inspire. It offers a glimpse of what commercial theatre in this country could be. And as Bush audience members and supporters know,…

Shifting the Narrative: Radical Love Commissions

A new initiative, inviting eight Global Majority artists to write short-form responses to the West End production of Benedict Lombe’s hit play Shifters, which is at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, until 12 October.  We’re delighted to be launching this new opportunity, alongside ATG Entertainment West End Creative Learning and the Producers of Shifters.…

Call out: tell us what you thought of Shifters

Did you see Shifters at the Bush? We need you! To celebrate the West End transfer of Benedict Lombe’s hit play, we’re asking audiences to help us spread the word. We’d love you to send in a short video of your thoughts, experiences and takeaway’s from the world premiere run at the Bush Theatre earlier…