Babylon Beyond Borders at Bush Theatre. Image by Wasi Daniju
Four extraordinary theatres, each deeply rooted in their own community, explore their relationship to home, language and migration. A Brazilian activist at the Pequeno Ato Theatre in São Paulo performs with a chorus of women from Shepherd’s Bush. Musicians at Harlem Stage in New York City act out the experiences of students at the Market Theatre Lab in Johannesburg in a celebration of the possibility and power of cross border encounters.
Devised by Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Pedro Granato, Mwenya Kabwe and Ruthie Osterman.
Project Partners
Bush Theatre (London, UK) – a world-famous home for new plays and an internationally renowned champion of playwrights.
Harlem Stage (NYC, USA) – an award-winning performing arts centre that features diverse local, national, and global artists in music, film, opera, theatre, dance and literature.
Pequeno Ato (São Paulo, Brazil)- award-wining young independent theatre focusing on creating new dramaturgy and contemporary aesthetics.
Market Theatre Lab (Johannesburg, South Africa) was operating as an independent, non-racial theatre during the country’s apartheid regime. The theatre provides a platform for professional performing and visual arts repertoire.
Presented by Bush Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre in partnership with Artistic Directors of the Future.
Rajiv is one of the Technicians at the Bush, working with Michael and the creative teams to realise productions and events in both the Theatre and the Studio. He is also a lighting designer. Rajiv graduated from LAMDA in 2014 with qualifications in Stage Management and Technical Theatre, specialising in Lighting, Sound and AV. Recent design work for the Bush includes the reopening event Black Lives, Black Words, Edinburgh Fringe First winner 2017 NASSIM (Traverse 2 / Bush Theatre / International Tour), Ramona Tells Jim directed by Mel Hillyard and Hijabi Monologues London.
Other lighting design credits include: Network Theatre’s STUD (Vault Festival 2018); Screaming Secrets & Glass Roots (Tristan Bates Theatre); Tom Stoppard’s On the Razzle and Nina Raine’s Rabbit (Pleasance Theatre for LAMDA productions); Blood Wedding (Bread & Roses Theatre); Might Never Happen (Doll’s Eye Theatre Company); Primadonna (VAULT Festival 2016); as well as various projects at the Arcola, Hampstead and the Unicorn. Rajiv was also Production Electrician on 4 Minutes 12 Seconds at Trafalgar Studios.
Ruthie is a theatre director, playwright, performer and drama teacher who graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and the school of Dramatic Arts in Tel-Aviv. Work includes multiple international collaborations and performances in London, Israel, Poland and India. She is a member of the Lincoln Centre Director’s Lab in NYC and was recognised as a promising artist and endorsed for an Exceptionally Talented Artist Visa for the UK by the Arts Council of England in 2015.
The women’s chorus was put together for Babylon Beyond Borders and is made up of women who are local to the Bush Theatre.
Maureen Natumi
Lieve Carchon
Aubrey Seader
Mediah Ahmed
Jessica Manu
Ilaria Ciardelli
Christaline Mckay
Pauline Singh
Tilail Negussie Mekuria
Sophie McCartney
Melissa Saint
