What is a prayer we can party to?
You know how a proper anthem makes you feel. As soon as that track comes on – your body starts moving and your soul kind of soars. ANTHEM invites you to join the best party you never went to.
Full of music, dancing and glimpses of parties and protests and prayer, the private and the political come into riotous conversation to beg the question, how do we pull ourselves and each other through the chaos and the calm?
ANTHEM is the new production from the 18-25 Bush Young Company about speaking truth to power, be it quietly or boisterously. Their explosive debut on the Bush’s main stage offers the chance to see the next generation of theatre-makers stake their claim. Directed by Katie Greenall (Back Up!, Bush Theatre).
Post-show event: on Friday 26 Aug, join us after the performance as the party vibes continue with a special Deen & Dunya event from BYC member Azan Ahmed. Find out more and book here.
Our ticket prices increase with demand, so book early to guarantee seats at the best price. Click here to find out more.
Tickets are available from £0 to £15. Seating is unreserved.
How to get here, opening times, offers and concessions, and how to hire one of our wonderful spaces.
Donate to help us develop emerging artists, bring new voices to the stage and support our community.
The 18-25 Bush Young Company is:
Azan Ahmed, Bashiie Baptiste, Coral Wylie, Elijah Walker, Isaac O’Connor-Adekoya, James Walsh, Jonny Khan, Jordan Haynes, Kc Gardiner, Kerrica Kendall, Louis Nicholson, Malik Dapaah, Maryam Garad, Maryse Baya, Max McMillan Ngwenya, May Abdi, Ra’eesah Kai, Sara Dawood, Tia Vinnette Scarlett.
Ariane Nixon loves all things lights! Ariane graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2018 and has since worked with a wide range of companies and organisations such as Artichoke, Sadler’s Wells, RashDash and, of course, Bush Theatre. Ariane’s lighting design credits include creating a high octane light show for riot grrrl gig-theatre piece Sugar Coat and live watery visuals for xvelastín’s sound play [whalesong]. Ariane has been with the Bush since last August and is returning to freelance life at the end of this summer’s Young Company season.
Elliot ‘Eli.P’ Popeau-George is a music producer, composer and sound designer based in East London. He is co-founder of Meta-Sama Sound Co, an electronic music production collective and label.
Elliot’s score work has been showcased in theatre and film, most recently working with Bush Theatre’s Young Company and again in dance short The Noise My Leaves Makes, which debuted at The Unit. As a music producer, Elliot has released music throughout his career, his sophomoric EP ‘Opals’ receiving critical acclaim and played on Reprezent Radio and BBC 1Xtra.
Hart Fargo is a writer and theatre maker who specialises in creating stories that hold the lived truth of Black, and Brown, people. Their queerness, their complexity, and their fallibility. Hart works at Eleanor Lloyd Productions as a Production and Creative Associate, finding new voices to produce in the commercial theatre sector, and working with those commissioned artists to dramaturgically develop their work. Black, Queer, and trying his best to keep his white trainers clean.
Jasmin is a freelance Stage Manager often found working on new musical theatre, including
Noisemaker’s A Christmas Carol (Dundee Rep), Islander (Southwark Playhouse; film version and
off-broadway transfer), Murder For Two (UK Tour), Buried (International Tour), You And I (UK Tour)
and Southbound (The Other Palace). Other credits range from circus and immersive shows such
as La Clique (Christmas in Leicester Square) and Inside Pussy Riot (Les Enfants Terribles), to
community projects with Sheffield Theatres, Kiln Theatre, Southbank Centre, ArtAngel and even
Dartmoor Prison. Most recently Jasmin worked on Chris Bush’s ambitious triptych of plays Rock,
Paper, Scissors at Sheffield Theatres: three plays performed simultaneously sharing one cast. A
regular at the National Student Drama Festival, she was awarded The Sunday Times Award for
Outstanding Contribution to Technical Theatre as a student, and she now returns in a teaching
capacity. Jasmin is excited to be joining The Bush Theatre team for the first time!
Katie Greenall (she/they) is a facilitator, director and writer working with Young People and Communities. Since graduating from East 15 Acting School with a degree in Acting and Community Theatre, she has been delivering projects and making work with organisations such as the Old Vic, National Youth Theatre of GB and the National Theatre. Katie is also Young Company Co-ordinator at the Bush Theatre, leading both the 14-17 and 18-25 group, including directing BACK UP! at the Bush in August 2021.
Katie was a member of the Poetry Collective at the Roundhouse, as well as reaching the final of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam in 2018. She was a Resident Artist at the Roundhouse 2018-2019, part of the Soho Theatre Writer’s Lab programme and longlisted for this year’s Channel 4 Screenwriting Course. In 2021, she was runner up in Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund for theatre making and she has appeared on several podcasts, including The Guilty Feminist, as well as writing for the Metro Online, Refinery 29 & Bustle.
Katie also made FATTY FAT FAT, her solo show about living in a fat body. It won the VAULTS Origins Award for Outstanding New Work in 2019 and following this, completed a sold-out 5* run at Edinburgh Fringe. In Spring 2020 FFF was due to head out on a tour of England & Wales, and was performed at Soho Theatre in September 2021. The show is supported by Arts Council England, and was published by Salamander Street in 2020.
Katie is currently making a new solo show BLUBBER, which follows her quest to reconnect with her own body through synchronised swimming, fat history and whales. This show is currently in development supported by Arts Council England and by VAULT Festival, as a member of the VAULT Five.
Peter Butler is a winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design 2021.
Credits include: The Beat of Our Hearts (Exeter Northcott), Patient Light (UK tour); Paper Cut (Theatre 503); Since U Been Gone (VAULT Festival); Prague Quadrennial Emergence Festival (V&A).
As Associate Designer: Cabaret Prologue (Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre). As Assistant Designer: Arrangement/Decommission (Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis Studio).
Ruth Burgon is a graduate of LAMDA and primarily works in new writing. Credits as Production Manager include Never Not Once (Park); BACK UP! (Bush Theatre); Nora, Let the Right One In (LAMDA). As Props Supervisor: Old Bridge (Bush Theatre). Stage Management credits include: Black is the Colour of My Voice (Seabright Productions); Coming Clean (King’s Head); Six (Bunker Theatre).
Tanaka Bingwa was born and raised in Zimbabwe and migrated to the UK at the age of 11. It was at the University of East London that he received most of his training in up to 12 different dance styles including: Hip Hop, contemporary and capoeira to name a few. He graduated with First Class Honours and went on to perform, teach and choreograph on platforms such as the BBC, The Greatest Dancer and Barbican.
Some of his credits include renowned artists such as ‘Anne-Marrie’, ‘Nile Rodgers’, ‘GHETTS’, ‘Alicai Harley’ and ‘Boy Better Know’. Furthermore, Tanaka has worked with hip hop theatre company, Spoken Movement and is a member of contemporary dance company, B-Hybrid Dance. He is also an active member of hip-hop theatre company, Boy Blue Entertainment.
Tanaka is a cast member of the 5*, multiple award nominated production, Blak Whyte Gray which he toured internationally and also multiple award-winning production, REDD. Tanaka has aspirations of maintaining a career and branching out to different sectors of dance and theatre and affecting real social change through his art and one day becoming a university lecturer in dance.