The company of The Cord at Bush Theatre. (Photo: Manuel Harlan)
The ★★★★ “exquisite, acutely observed and often searingly familiar” (WhatsOnStage) new play from Olivier award-winning writer and director Bijan Sheibani (Netflix’s One Day).
“Sometimes when I look at him, I feel like he’s me.
But if the baby is me, then who am I? You?”
Ash and Anya were happy, just the two of them. Then the baby came.
Ash has spent the first two weeks of his son’s life trying to work out where he fits. He watches his mother holding her grandchild for the first time, mesmerised by the mystery and delight of a new life. After she leaves, Ash watches Anya feeding their son – so close, almost intertwined.
As sleepless nights, relentless crying and hushed arguments take their toll, a storm starts to grow as a nightmarish chasm widens between Ash and his wife, his mother, and even his son.
The Cord is a brutally honest insight into the challenging truths of family dynamics. This astonishing world premiere production sees writer and director Bijan Sheibani (Till The Stars Come Down, National) reunite with the creative team behind his hit debut play, The Arrival.
★★★★★ ‘A fascinating exploration’ LondonBoxOffice
★★★★★ ‘ A powerful realist drama about the unshakeable bond of motherhood and the tests of being a new parent’ BroadwayBaby
★★★★ ‘Both universal and deeply personal’ WhatsOnStage
★★★★ ‘Packs a punch. Brimming with poignancy about the surreal world of new parenthood’ The Indiependent
★★★★ ‘Painstakingly truthful, exquisitely crafted.’ Matinee Mouse
‘Powerfully intimate, sensitive and intelligent’ Time Out
We are proud to be partnering with Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP), who support women and families affected by postpartum psychosis over their lifetime. Check out their Bush Green post for more info.
Looking for show information and content guidance?
The Cord Self-Care Guide and Content Warnings
Aline David‘s theatre work includes: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Lyric Hammersmith); The Arrival (Bush); Sons of the Prophet (Hampstead); A Taste of Honey, Barber Shop Chronicles, Romeo and Juliet, Emil and the Detectives, Antigone, The Kitchen, Greenland and Our Class (National); The Brothers Size, Dutchman, Eurydice, Elektra, Parallel Macbeth, The Invisible Woman and Playsize (Young Vic); Dance Nation and The House of Bernarda Alba (Almeida); Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice (RSC); Gone Too Far! and Wanderlust (Royal Court); The Iphigenia Quartet and How to be Another Woman (Gate); First Love is the Revolution (Soho); Romeo and Juliet, A Taste of Honey and Alice (Sheffield Crucible); Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Rep); Looking for Yogurt (Birmingham Studio); Henry VIII, Romeo and Juliet, Women Beware Women, Antony & Cleopatra, Much Ado About Nothing, Troilus and Cressida and Handel and the First Messiah (Shakespeare’s Globe); Proof (Menier); Waiting for Godot (West Yorkshire Playhouse); 1984, Macbeth and The Mighty Waltzer (Royal Exchange); A Christmas Carol (Sherman, Cardiff); The Owl and the Pussycat (ROH Olympic Project); Working (Royal Academy of Music); Nothing (Glyndebourne/Den Jyske Opera); Daphne (La Monnaie; Belgium).
Television work includes The Crown seasons 5 and 6 (Netflix) and Augustus (Apple).
Theatre credits include: Hills of California, Lyonesse, Good, Uncle Vanya, The Birthday Party, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Harold Pinter Theatre); Nachtland (Young Vic); Hamnet (RSC)
; Jerusalem (Apollo); Leopoldstadt (Wyndham’s); La Cage aux Folles (Regent’s Park); The Pillowman (Duke of Yorks); Medea (sohoplace); Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The Dead (Complicite); The Son (Duke of York’s/ Kiln); The Night of the Iguana (Noël Coward); Sweat (Gielgud/ Donmar) ; True West (Vaudeville); The Ferryman (Royal Court/ Gielgud); The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Hangmen (Royal Court/ Wyndham’s); Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar); Cold War, Portia Coughlan, Women Beware the Devil, Daddy, The Hunt, Shipwreck, Dance Nation, Albion (Almeida); Consent, Paradise, Stories, Exit the King (National); White Noise, A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge ); Maryland, ear for eye, Girls & Boys, Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court).
Film credits include: Ballywalter; The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
Bijan Sheibani is a writer and director of theatre and screen.
His debut play The Arrival premiered at the Bush Theatre in London in 2019 where it received outstanding reviews. He is currently writing an adaptation of the play for Film Four.
He recently wrote television episodes on a new Netflix/Drama Republic adaptation of One Day by David Nicholls, and wrote and directed Morning Song, a short film for Film Four.
His production of Barber Shop Chronicles had two sell out runs at the National Theatre of Great Britain in 2017 and went on to play all over the world at major venues in Australia, the UK and the USA, including Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2019 his National Theatre production of A Taste of Honey transferred to the West End after a UK tour.
Other recent theatre credits include: Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam (Hampstead); Dance Nation by Clare Barron (Almeida); The Brothers Size by Tarell McCraney (Young Vic); and Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker (Home, Manchester). He has also directed new operas for the Royal Opera House, Aldeburgh, Densk National Opera, Streetwise Opera and Glyndebourne.
Bijan was an associate director at the National Theatre for five years, where his credits include Our Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek (Olivier nomination for Best Director), The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker, and Emil and the Detectives by Carl Miller after Erich Kastner’s children’s book. Other theatre credits include: The House of Bernarda Alba (Almeida); Moonlight (Donmar); Giving (Hampstead); Gone Too Far! (Royal Court, Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement); Ghosts (Arcola); Other Hands and Flush (Soho). He was artistic director of Actors Touring Company from 2007-2010 and won the James Menzies Kitchen Award for Young Directors in 2003.
Bryony first worked with Bijan on The Brothers Size (Young Vic). Past credits include: Billy Elliot (Working Title); Faust (Punchdrunk); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Sonia Friedman); Nation, Dara, Amadeus, Wonder.land (National) and numerous shows at The Young Vic. More recently she has enjoyed working on The Son (The Kiln) and with this team on the Sons of the Prophet (Hampstead).
Chloe Wilson’s theatre credits include: Potted Panto (Apollo / The Core, Corby Cube); Trainspotting Live and Oi Frog and Friends! Live (UK Tour); August in England (Bush); Afterglow and Straight White Men (Southwark Playhouse Borough); Operation Epsilon (Southwark Playhouse Elephant), Disruption (Park); The Social (North England Tour).
Stage Manager credits include: Echo Land (R+D) (Rich Mix); Nevergreen (Poplar Union); A Silver Bell, Liminal, Clean @17 and Death and Dancing (Kings Head); The Mikado (The Maltings); Juliet & Romeo (The Gatehouse).
Assistant Stage Manager credits include: Windfall (Southwark Playhouse); L’Enfant Prodigue and Passion, Poison and Petrifaction (Susie Sainsbury, Royal Academy of Music).
Her credits while studying include: Stage Manager for The Wolves, Colossal and Chigger Foot Boys. Deputy Stage Manager for Spring Awakening and After Mrs Rochester. Assistant Stage Manager for Boudica and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Colin Alexander is a cellist and composer working across a range of disciplines and traditions. Whilst collaborating with artists such as Kit Downes, Héloïse Werner, Abel Selaocoe, Max Baillie and Shiva Feshareki, Colin also performs regularly with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, LSO Ensemble, 12 Ensemble, Dotdotdot Flamenco and a variety of world-music and improvisation groups. Alongside his performing schedule, he has written new works for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra, Contrechamps, The Mercury Quartet, Hyper Duo and Le Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain.
He has released two albums with Addelam on the Big Ship label, features on both Tre Voci – Auro and I hope this finds you well in these strange times – vol.2 on Nonclassical and has more recently released Timelapse on Accidental Records as well as Homework, While Swimming and codi on October House Records. He is currently completing four new solo cello suites for release and publication in spring 2024.
Please note: Colin Alexander is not scheduled to perform on the 17th February. This performance shall instead feature an alternate cellist.
Gareth Fry is a sound designer, best known for his cutting-edge work in theatre, and his collaborations with many leading UK theatre directors and companies. His work includes productions for Complicité, National Theatre of Scotland, DV8, at the National Theatre, Royal Court, Bridge Theatre, Old Vic, Young Vic, in the West End and many more.
He has also designed numerous events and exhibitions, from the V&A’s landmark David Bowie Is exhibition, to being asked by Danny Boyle to design the sound effects for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.
He is a specialist in the use of binaural sound, used in Complicité’s The Encounter, numerous VR experiences, podcasts and advertising campaigns, including for Bose, Volvo and Land Rover. His work in VR has been featured at the Tribeca, Vienna and Sundance festivals.
He regularly runs workshops for directors exploring how they can use sound design in their work. These workshops have been commissioned by the National Theatre, Birkbeck College, Sadlers Wells, Complicité, the Prague Quadrennial, Mousetrap Theatre Projects, NSDF, the Brit School, the JMK Awards and the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.
He is a founder of, and spent 6 years as the chair of, the Association of Sound Designers, a charity that works to support people working in, and entering, the UK theatre sound industry. Gareth is an honorary fellow of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is the author of Sound Design for the Stage, published in 2019 by Crowood Press. He has contributed to BBC Radio 4’s World at One, and the World Service, to talk about the use of sound.
Awards include three Olivier Awards, two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, two Helpmann Awards and an Evening Standard award.
Gurkiran Kaur is a voice, accent and dialect coach from London. She holds a BA Drama and Theatre Studies (Royal Holloway), completed actor training (The Bridge Theatre Training Company) and has a MA Voice Studies (The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama). Gurkiran works at a number of drama schools and has coached a number of graduate productions and showcases. Gurkiran is part of The Voice And Speech Teaching Associations’ EduCore Leadership Team and serves as a Junior Board Member. Gurkiran honours Ancient practices to approach voice work and believes in serving the people in the space ensuring inclusivity, equity and accessibility.
Credits: Extinct (Stratford East); Queens of Sheba (Soho Theatre & Nouveau Riche); NW Trilogy (Kiln); How To Save The Planet When You’re A Young Carer And Broke (Boundless); Best of Enemies (Young Vic & Headlong); Chasing Hares (Young Vic & Uncut); I Wonder If (Young Vic); Red Pitch (also West End), Favour, The P Word, Paradise Now, Sleepova, A Playlist For The Revolution (Bush); Lotus Beauty (Hampstead & Tamasha); Henry VIII (Globe); Offside (Futures Theatre); Marvin’s Binoculars, Anansi The Spider (Unicorn); The Climbers (Theatre By The Lake); Finding Home (Curve); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Noel Coward); Silence (Donmar & Tara); A Dead Body In Taos (Fuel); Unexpected Twist (Royal & Derngate); Wuthering Heights (China Plate); I Wanna Be Yours (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Empress, Falkland Sound (Royal Shakespeare Company); Brassic FM (Gate); A Poem For Rabia (Tarragon Theatre, Toronto); The Full Monty (Everyman, Cheltenham & Buxton Opera House); Good Karma Hospital (ITV & Tiger Aspect Productions) and Hotel Portofino (ITV, PBS & Eagle Eye).
Oliver Fenwick‘s theatre credits include: The Father And The Assassin, Kerry Jackson, Blues For An Alabama Sky, Tartuffe (National); The Yeoman Of The Guard (ENO); Carmen (WNO); The Merchant of Venice (New York, Washington, Chicago, China); Clyde’s, Trouble In Butetown, Sweat (Donmar); The Invisible Hand, Pass Over, When The Crows Visit (Kiln); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Calendar Girls (UK Tour); Hansel And Gretel, To Kill a Mockingbird (Regent’s Park); After Miss Julie (Young Vic); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lyric Hammersmith); Berlusconi: A New Musical (Southwark); Genesis Inc., Mother Christmas (Hampstead); Wendy and Peter Pan, The Jew of Malta, The Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew (RSC); Red Velvet (also St Ann’s, NY), Handbagged, Private Lives, The Importance of Being Earnest (UK Tour/ West End); Right Now (also Bush, Traverse); Into the Woods (Chatelet, Paris); Les Miserables (Jonkoping/Wermland, Sweden); Romeo and Juliet (Tokyo, Japan).
Patricia Gilvaia is a freelance production manager. She has rigging and automation bias. She has a degree in Cultural Management.
Her recent work as PM includes: May 35th (Southwark Playhouse), NT Immersive Storytelling (National), No Particular Order (Theatre 503), Forgotten (Arcola and Royal Theatre Plymouth), Endgame by Tania Bruguera (European Tour).
Samal Blak‘s credits include: Sons of the Prophet (Hampstead); Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen and Così fan Tutte (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma); Tosca (Macerata festival); Hamlet (Gothenburg Opera); Paria (Teatr Wielki, Poland); Dance Nation (Almeida); The Arrival (Bush); Circle Mirror Transformation (Home, Manchester); Khovanshchina (Winner – Best New Production, International Opera Awards 2015); Otello and Life is a Dream (Birmingham Opera Company); Falstaff and Fidelio (Bucharest National Opera); Anthropocene, The Devil Inside, In The Locked Room and Ghost Patrol, which won South Bank Sky Arts Award 2013 (all Scottish Opera); Svadba (Festival d’Aix- en-Provence); Les Mamelles de Tiresias (De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, La Monnaie Brussels, Aldeburgh Music).
Stella Wang is a stage manager and writer with an MA degree in creative writing from the University of Warwick.
Recent credits include: Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) (Kiln); Saw: Escape Experience (The Path Entertainment Group); Camden Fringe Festival (The Hope). Shows including Asian Girl in Therapy, Brown Girl Noise, Horrigan and Howell: Two’s a Crowd, Must Be This Gay to Ride, Friction Burn, Body 115, and Something to Take Off the Edge; DNA (Tara Theatre).
