Mei Mei Macleod and Liam Lau-Fernandez in A Playlist for the Revolution at Bush Theatre. Photo credit Craig Fuller.
A wedding in Hong Kong, 2019. Two worlds collide. A spark ignites.
Jonathan is pretty sure his life will look just like his father’s: a good job, a family, and firmly settled in Hong Kong.
Chloe is about to start university in England, and she’s ready to be the Asian Elle Woods. Empowered by the music of BTS, M.I.A and Beyonce (of course), she has big plans to make her mark.
Through months of sharing messages, music reccs and late-night confessions, they both get swept up in the promise of how someone unexpected can change your world. What they don’t realise is that the world around them is about to change forever.
★★★★ “A radical rom-com with a twist… it ends up giving you what you want in a way you don’t expect.” (The Times)
A rom-com right up until it can’t be, A Playlist for the Revolution is set against the backdrop of the largest demonstrations in Hong Kong’s history. This explosive and deeply-moving play is a new Bush commission, written by AJ Yi and directed by Emily Ling Williams.
Looking for show information and content guidance?
A Playlist For The Revolution Self-Care Guide and Content Warnings
AJ Yi (formerly known as Alissa Anne Jeun Yi) is a mixed-race Chinese writer and performer based in London.
In 2018, AJ developed their debut play Love Songs through the Soho Theatre Writer’s Lab. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe and transferred to Soho Theatre. It received Guardian Pick of the Fringe, was nominated for two comedy awards and the Tony Craze Award. In 2021 their short play Avocado Fried Rice was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and they were commissioned to write multiple pieces of work for English Touring Theatre during lockdown.
AJ was part of the BBC Writersroom Drama Room development scheme in 2020, and progressed onto the BBC TV Drama Writer’s Programme in 2021. They have original projects in development and have worked on multiple writer’s rooms including the adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s book Everything I Know About Love (BBC One / Working Title), and The Fuck-It Bucket (Netflix / Leftbank Pictures).
Deirdre O’Halloran is the Literary Manager at the Bush Theatre, working to identify and build relationships with new writers, commission new work and guide plays to the stage.
At the Bush she’s dramaturged plays including Olivier Award winners Baby Reindeer by Richard Gadd and The P Word by Waleed Akhtar, Lava by Benedict Lombe and An Adventure by Vinay Patel.
Deirdre was previously Literary Associate at Soho Theatre, where she worked as a dramaturg on plays including Girls by Theresa Ikoko and Fury by Phoebe Eclair-Powell. She led on Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab programme and the biennial Verity Bargate Award.
As a freelancer, Deirdre has also been a reader for Out of Joint, Sonia Friedman Productions and Papatango.
Emily Ling Williams was previously Trainee Director at Paines Plough, a Resident Director at the Almeida Theatre and Jerwood Assistant Director at the Young Vic. She is currently an Origins Artist at Headlong.
Theatre includes:
As Director: Wasted (Lyric Hammersmith); The Full Works, The Key Workers Cycle (Almeida); text me when you’re home, 5 Plays (Young Vic); Lucky Cigarette (New Earth); Swallow, 16 (Lemon House); GYSB, Tuesday at the Library, A Perpetual State of Happiness, Good Trouble (Moongate); Appropriate, The Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window (RWCMD); Miss Julie (LAMDA); Preach (Rose Bruford); Turbines (Paines Plough / RWCMD / Gate).
As Assistant Director: The House Of Shades (Almeida); Blood Wedding (Young Vic); The Meeting, The Chalk Garden (Chichester); Black Mountain, Out Of Love, How To Be A Kid (Paines Plough / Theatr Clwyd / Orange Tree); The Island Nation (Arcola).
Gillian Tan is a multi-disciplinary designer, working across lighting and video for various theatrical, immersive and interactive experiences.
Theatre credits: A Playlist for the Revolution (Bush Theatre); South Pacific (Chichester); Mind Mangler (Mischief); Stars (ICA & Tour); The Body Remembers (Fuel); Black Love (Paines Plough / Belgrade / tiata fahodzi); Really Big & Really Loud (Paines Plough / Belgrade); Cinderella – The Awesome Truth (Polka); Alyssa, Memoirs of A Queen (Vaudeville); Aisha and Abhaya (Royal Ballet / Rambert); Majestique (Skråen); The Song Project – Is In Our Blood (Royal Court); 4.48 Psychosis (Lyric Hammersmith / Royal Opera House); La Soirée (Aldwych / Southbank / Skråen); Coraline (Barbican / Royal Opera House); Tamburlaine (Arcola); Invisible Treasure (Ovalhouse); Who Do We Think We Are (Southwark); Crocodiles (Royal Exchange).
Film credits: NYX and Gazelle Twin Present: Deep England, a performance film by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard; Held Momentarily (RAM).
She is also a member of the Somerset House Exchange and is the Head of Video at RADA.
Ian Taylor is a Technical and Production Manager with over a decade of experience in the theatre and events industry. Ian has an extensive background in stage management, production management, technical management and as managing director of eStage, a company dedicated to serving the entertainment industry’s needs.
Credits at the Bush include: The P Word; Overflow; The High Table.
Ian’s career began in stage management with Glyndebourne and The Royal Opera companies in 2004 and 2006, respectively, as an Assistant Stage Manager. Within a few years, he became a stage manager for The Royal Opera in 2010. Other companies he’s stage-managed for include ROH2, Secret Cinema, Opera Holland Park and Pimlico Opera. He was also the Senior Stage Manager for Opera Holland Park’s Summer Festival for four years.
In 2012 he started production managing and has worked for Birmingham Rep, Sheffield Theatres, Bush Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, The Royal Opera, Southwark Playhouse, Park Theatre, Philharmonia Orchestra, W11 Opera, Arcola Theatre, Troupe Productions, Papatango and Secret Cinema. In 2021/22, Ian was appointed Technical Manager of the Bush Theatre in London before returning to full-time production management under eStage.
Having founded eStage in 2014, Ian deeply understands individual creatives and the arts industry in general; Ian has over a decade of expertise in managing OKEDIA, eStage’s digital services offering, and MiniStage, its 3D printing service. Both offer creative digital services to entertainers and arts organisations, including website design, hosting and physical 3D models.
In 2016 Ian founded the Backstage Professional Development Conference launched by the team at eStage to bring together industry professionals offering knowledge, advice, and guidance based on their careers in the industry. They provided genuine first-hand experience and tips through talks, workshops, and Q & A’s.
Ian holds a bachelor’s degree in stage management and technical theatre, with honours, from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Jamie Ye (she/her) is a London-based freelance scenographer, sound designer, and composer. With a background in sound and music, she trained as a scenographer at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Jamie is particularly interested in the auditory experience in theatres, and her work reflects her passion for creating immersive sound designs.
With a diverse range of credits across theatres in London and some of the major cities around the country, Jamie has worked on a wide variety of productions. Her designs often involve multiple elements with substantial dramaturgical meanings and have their own narrative functions. Jamie is particularly drawn to new writing and new adaptation works, and she brings a fresh and exciting perspective to these projects.
Jatinder Chera took a position at the Royal National Theatre, following his graduation from the Casting Certificate, at the National Film and Television School. Prior to this, he worked as an actor, having trained at Millennium Performing Arts.
For the Bush, Jatinder cast: Olivier Award winning The P Word, and Sleepova. Further credits include: The Nutcracker (Bristol Old Vic); Up Next Gala 2022 (Lyttelton, NT); and A Family Business (Staatstheater Mainz & UK Tour).
As Casting Associate at the National Theatre, he worked on: The Father and the Assassin (Olivier).
As Casting Assistant at the National Theatre, Jatinder worked on: Othello, Much Ado About Nothing (Lyttelton); Small Island (Olivier); and Trouble in Mind (Dorfman).
Jess Senanayake trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is a Stage Manager and Producer, having previously worked with Glynis Henderson Productions, Deus Ex Machina Productions and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions.
Theatre as Stage Manager includes: WORTH (New Earth Theatre / Storyhouse); NO I.D. (VAULT); A Sherlock Carol (Marylebone); DARKFIELD (Canary Wharf Festival); We Should All Be Dreaming (LIFT at the Black Cultural Archives); RIDE – A New Musical (Charing Cross).
Theatre as Production Assistant: A Monster Calls (UK and US Tour); Private Peaceful (UK Tour); The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (UK Tour).
Other Credits include: Dr John Cooper Clarke: I Wanna Be Yours (Edinburgh Playhouse); LAVENDER (Omnibus).
Katie Bingham (she/her) trained at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has worked in both Theatre and Opera in Cardiff and London. Katie loves her job as a Company Stage Manager and is grateful for the variety of productions she has worked on.
Recent theatre credits include: Let’s Build (Polka); Linck and Mülhahn (Hampstead); Stick Man (Freckle Productions at Leicester Square Theatre); Caucasian Chalk Circle, Persuasion (Rose, Kingston), Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales (Freckle Productions at Cadogan Hall).
Recent opera credits include: The Yeoman of the Guard (Grange Festival Opera); Il Turco in Italia, Luisa Miller, Rigoletto, Rinaldo, L’elisir d’amore, Le damnation de Faust (Glyndebourne); Bhekizizwe (Opera’r Ddraig); The Marriage of Figaro (Mid Wales Opera).
Leo Tyler is London based, trained at the Northern College of Costume and has worked on a variety of television, short and feature films.
Recent credits include: The Bower (2022); Gangs of London (2022); Star Wars: Andor (2022); and making for The Great (2023).
Liam Bunster trained at RADA and was recently resident Associate Designer at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Theatre Designs include: John Gabriel Borkman (costumes, Bridge); House of Shades (costumes, Almeida); Small Change (Omnibus); The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Globe); Twist (Staatstheater Mainz, Germany); Catch Me If You Can, Sweeney Todd (ArtsEd); Road, Intimate Apparel (GSMD); Flare Path (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama); Macbeth – Playmaking Festival (RSC); Der Freischütz (Blackheath Opera); Yokes Night (Gerry’s, Stratford East); Dead or Alive (RSC); Veterans Day (Finborough); The Beggar’s Opera, After Miss Julie (RADA).
As Associate Designer: The Pillowman (Duke of York’s); 2:22 (Noel Coward); Hamlet, Death Of A Salesman (Young Vic); A Very Very Very Dark Matter, A German Life, Two Ladies (Bridge); L’Orfeo (Vienna State Opera); West Side Story (Royal Exchange); Much Ado About Nothing (Globe).
Luca Panetta works as a freelance lighting designer, video designer, and programmer and trained at LAMDA in Productional Technical Arts.
Recent Credits as Lighting and Video Designer include: Edith (Lowry/Theatr Clwyd); If Opera’s 2022 Season La Rondine, Il segreto di Susanna, and Rita (Belcombe Court); The Faction’s 2021 Solos (Wilton’s Music Hall); Diary of a Somebody (Seven Dials Playhouse – nominated for an Offie for Lighting Design); The Wardrobe Ensemble’s Education, Education, Education and The Last of the Pelican Daughters directed by Sarah Frankcom (ALWF Theatre)
Credits as Associate Lighting Designer include: Worth (Arcola / Storyhouse); Cinderella (Stratford East); The Merchant of Venice 1936 (HOME Manchester); Cinderella: The AWESOME Truth (Polka); The Apology (Arcola).
Associate Video includes: Mind Mangler (Mischief Theatre, UK Tour & Virgin Voyages).
Luca also works as a freelance lighting programmer for companies such as Hampstead Theatre, NTLive and Stratford East.
Nicola T. Chang is an award-winning composer/sound designer from Hong Kong. She was the Composer/Sound Designer on the 2020/21 Old Vic 12 cohort and a current BAFTA Connect Member (Film Composer).
Selected composition/sound design theatre credits include: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy (Apollo / Royal Court / New Diorama); My Neighbour Totoro (RSC/Barbican); Kerry Jackson (National); Top Girls (Liverpool Everyman); Of the Cut (Young Vic); The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs (Soho); Macbeth (Leeds Playhouse); All Mirth and No Matter (RSC); White Pearl (Royal Court); Dziady (Almeida); Miss Julie (Chester Storyhouse); Little Baby Jesus (Orange Tree); The Death of Ophelia (Globe).
Selected film credits include: Mei (Sundance 2022); Baked Beans (2022), LAID (Best Sci-Fi – Cannes Shorts, New York Film Festival 2021); Getting Away with Murder(s) (2021); Seafruit (2020); A Dose of Happiness (2019); Postcards from the 48% (2018).
Sarita Piotrowski is a movement director and choreographer working across theatre, opera, TV and film.
As Movement Director: Dixon and Daughters (National); The Tempest (RSC); Rape of Lucretia (Britten Pears Arts/Royal Opera House); Favour (Bush); Jitney (Old Vic / Headlong / Leeds Playhouse); The Glass Menagerie (Duke of York’s); Offside, Underwater Love (Futures Theatre); Theodora (Royal Opera House); The Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Holland Park); A Day In The Death of Joe Egg (Trafalgar); I Would Rather Go Blind (Omnibus); Nell Gwynn (Ivy Theatre); Awa’s Journey (Arcola).
As Associate Movement Director: Tartuffe (Birmingham Rep); Best of Enemies (Young Vic); Nine Night (National).
Choreography includes: Been So Long (Netflix); Reflection Route (British Museum); Sher Yadet Nare (Manoto TV); Glimpses (The Place); Anything Goes (Hackney Empire); Louder than Words (feature film).
