Heather Agyepong and Tosin Cole in Shifters at the Bush Theatre. Photo (c) Craig Fuller.
Starring the “irresistible” (London Theatre) Heather Agyepong (School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play, Lyric Hammersmith) and the “tremendous” (Observer) Tosin Cole (Netflix’s Supacell), Shifters is written by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Benedict Lombe and directed by Evening Standard Theatre Award winner Lynette Linton (Blues for an Alabama Sky, NT).
★★★★ “The perfect bittersweet rom-com” Evening Standard
★★★★★ “This play will blow you away” Afridiziak
★★★★ “Smouldering and soulful” Time Out
‘Something is shifting between you – again. Something terrifying and comforting.’
Dre and Des.
Young. Gifted. Black.
He stayed. She left.
Years later, Des and Dre come crashing back into each other’s lives, carrying new secrets and old scars. With the clock counting down until Des has to leave again, memories of their teen years collide with their present and they’re forced to question if destiny has brought them back together for a reason.
Shifters is a beautifully intoxicating and relatable reminder of the enduring power of memory and young love. A universal story, full of heart, this love story is “easy itself to fall in love with” (The Times).
Opening at the Duke of York’s Theatre from 12 August – 12 October for a strictly limited 9-week run. Book your tickets now and get ready to fall for this “tender, cosmic and cleverly unpredictable love story” (The Stage).
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Shifters content warnings and self-care guide.
Benedict Lombe is a Congolese British writer based in London.
Her debut play Lava (Bush Theatre 2021) was awarded the 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, becoming one of the first writers in the prize’s history to win the award for a debut play. Lava also won a Black British Theatre Award, Best Performance Piece at the 2022 Offies (Off West End Awards), and was nominated for the Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play of the Year.
Shifters (Bush Theatre, Spring 2024) was her second commission from the Bush Theatre, directed by Artistic Director Lynette Linton. Shifters has consequently been optioned for TV by an Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA-winning production company.
Further theatre work includes an attachment at the National Theatre Studio, a commission for the Charleston Festival and other new plays in development. Further screen work includes a commission to develop an original feature film for BBC Films and Expanded Media Productions.
Lynette Linton is a BAFTA nominated writer and director for theatre, TV and film, and is the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre.
For her production of Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National Theatre, she won the awards for Best Director at the 2022 Evening Standard Theatre Awards and 2022 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
Lynette directed the UK premiere of Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat (Donmar Warehouse, Gielgud Theatre) for which she won Best Director at the inaugural Black British Theatre awards. Sweat also won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2019.
Her other directing credits include: Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage (Donmar); As We Face The Sun by Kit Withington (as co-director with Katie Greenall, Bush); August in England by Lenny Henry (as co-director with Daniel Bailey, Bush); House of Ife by Beru Tessema (Bush); an adaptation of Jackie Kay’s Chiaroscuro (Bush); Richard ii (as co-director with Adjoa Andoh, Globe); world premiere productions of Assata Taught Me (Gate) and Function (National Youth Theatre). She was Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse from 2017 to 2018.
As a writer, her credits include: Look at Me (ITV); Hashtag Lightie (Arcola); Chicken Palace and Step (Stratford East).
She is co-founder of theatre and film production company Black Apron Entertainment.
Lynette’s directorial screen debut, My Name is Leon, a feature-length television adaptation of Kit de Waal’s award-winning novel, aired on BBC2 in June 2022. In 2023, she was nominated for the Emerging Talent: Fiction BAFTA award for her work on the film.
