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Taio Lawson has been appointed as the new artistic director of the Bush theatre in west London. He will succeed Lynette Linton, who is leaving after six years in charge of the venue which is known for nurturing new playwrights.
Lawson, whose first season of work will be presented early next year, will also act as co-CEO in partnership with Mimi Findlay. He said he was honoured to be taking over “at a time when the need for enduring original narratives is so important”. Praising the work of Linton and associate artistic director Daniel Bailey, who has also stepped down, Lawson said he would build on their achievements and “programme bold pieces that speak to our hearts and stimulate our minds, that both comfort and challenge us”.
The Bush, whose previous artistic directors include Josie Rourke and Madani Younis, has gone from strength to strength under Linton and Bailey, who co-directed Lenny Henry in his playwriting debut August in England in 2023. The Bush’s 2022 production of Waleed Akhtar’s play The P Word won an Olivier award and another of its hits, Red Pitch by Tyrell Williams, transferred to @sohoplace last year. The West End transfer of Benedict Lombe’s Shifters, which sold out at the Bush, is up for best new play and best actress (for Heather Agyepong) at next month’s Oliviers.
Lawson acknowledged the “legacy of exceptional leadership that has brought the Bush to where it is today”. Currently a Genesis fellow and associate director at the Young Vic, he was previously an associate director of the Kiln theatre in London and has held resident director roles at Sheffield Theatres, the Almeida and on the West End run of the musical Hamilton. His credits as a director include An Unfinished Man at the Yard theatre and NW Trilogy at the Kiln, where next year he will direct a Black British retelling of Chekhov’s The Seagull, co-written with Dipo Baruwa-Etti.
Uzma Hasan, chair of the Bush theatre board, said: “Taio is a leader in a new generation of theatre-makers. His vision, passion and commitment to artists and audiences is deeply inspiring. He shares the Bush’s mission to prioritise new writing, artistic innovation, sustainability and deeper engagement with our community.” Findlay said Lawson’s work “has consistently challenged and uplifted the discourse of what theatre and new writing can be”.
The Bush first opened above a pub in 1972. It has two performance spaces at its current site, a former library which underwent a £4.3m renovation and is close to Shepherd’s Bush Market.
