Conversations, dispatches and ideas from the Bush Theatre.
Jack Thorne is a hugely successful British playwright and screenwriter. He is a household name for writing television programmes such as Skins (2017), This is England (2010) and the BAFTA nominated Help (2021) starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham.
His first play, the “painstakingly honest” (The Guardian) When You Cure Me premiered at the Bush in 2005. At the time, he was regarded as a “talented young protégé with a very bright future” (British Theatre Guide). Jack returned to the Bush in 2009 with 2nd May 1997, dramatising the night of New Labour’s landslide victory into government.
“The Bush became my creative home, nurturing and supporting me through another play. I don’t know what career (if any) I’d have without the Bush. It changed everything for me.”
He was also a writer for Sixty Six Books (2011) which celebrated the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible in conjunction with the opening of our current home on Uxbridge Road.
Jack says of his time at the Bush’s old home: “I was on the writers’ list for free tickets for other shows so I don’t think I missed anything there for 5 years. It was a tiny space but everything seemed possible there.”
As well as writing award winning TV and films Jack has worked on many theatre projects over the years including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016), Woyzeck (2017) and A Christmas Carol (2017) for the Old Vic and After Life (2021) for the National Theatre.
In 2022 Jack Thorne was the recipient of the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing. The Bush is so proud of the part we played in his amazing career!
“You need places that are outliers. Places which don’t feel the need to fit with trends, that push for the new. The Bush has always been that.”
At the Bush, we are passionate about discovering and developing new talent, like Jack was when we staged his first play. We nurture emerging playwrights through open submissions, our Emerging Writers’ Group and our busy slate of commissions, and we can only afford these programmes because of support from people like you. By donating to our special birthday campaign, the New Writing Fund, you could help us find the next generation of writers.
