“Here is the city that we live in
Notice that the city that we live in is alive
Analyse our city and you’ll find that our city even has bodily features
Our city’s organs function like any living creature
Our city is a living creature
And if you’re wise enough, you’ll know not all of us are blood cells…
Some of us are viruses.”
Arinzé delivers an epic, lyrical journey through the pulsating heart and underground soul of inner city London. An inventive blend of gig theatre, spoken word, live art and direct address, Misty confronts the assumptions and expectations underpinning the act of telling a story.
Misty is directed by Bush Theatre Associate Director Omar Elerian (NASSIM, One Cold Dark Night, Islands) and will feature an original musical score performed live during the show.
Adrian is a highly skilled and experienced keyboardist, producer and musical director. He has worked with various artists such as Toddla T, Chronixx, Sway and Plan B. He has an extensive musical background that has developed his ability to be creative and attentive to detail. Adrian is thrilled to be involved in Misty once again having worked on the RADAR sharing in 2015.
Screen International UK Star of Tomorrow, actor and writer Arinzé Kene was raised in London to Nigerian parents. 2017 saw his new play, good dog tour the UK with tiata fahodzi theatre company. His stage play God’s Property ran at Soho Theatre in 2013, co-produced with Talawa. Little Baby Jesus, directed by Che Walker, ran in May 2011 at the Oval House Theatre, where his play Estate Walls also ran in 2010. Arinzé was named Most Promising Playwright at the Off West End Theatre Awards for Estate Walls in 2011, which was also nominated for Best New Play. Arinzé was a part of the Young Writers’ Programme, Soho Theatre’s Young Writers’ Group and Writers’ Super Group at the Royal Court Theatre. His original feature film, Seekers, is on the Brit List and currently in development. Kene was involved in the development of the second series of Big Talk’s Youngers for E4, in which he played the part of Ashley.
In terms of acting, he most recently starred in new E4/Netflix Original series Crazyhead and took the lead as ‘Ade’ in the Duncan Kenworthy (Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral) produced film The Pass opposite Russell Tovey. For this role he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2016 BIFA’s and won the prestigious Best Supporting Actor award at the 2016 Evening Standard Film Awards. Kene has just been seen taking his talents to the London stage, starring as the lead in One Night In Miami at the Donmar Warehouse, playing soul singing legend ‘Sam Cooke’ and more recently in the hugely successful Old Vic Theatre production, based on the music of Bob Dylan – Girl From The North Country, which is due to transfer to the West End for an extended run. Next year he will be seen taking the lead role opposite Micaela Cole in Netflix’s acquired feature film, Been So Long and in a vital role in the BBC’s new thriller, opposite Paddy Considine, Informer.
Daniel is a London based Video Designer and Animator and associate of video design collective Mesmer. A graduate of the University for the Creative Arts his background was originally in illustration and experimental film. He has gone on to animate and design visuals for a range of different media from theatre, opera, music, fashion, web and broadcast.
His original designs include: Alice in Winterland (The Rose Theatre); Flashdance: The Musical (UK Tour); As You Like It (Theatre By The Lake); To Love Somebody Melancholy (UK Tour); Ready Or Not (Arcola Theatre and UK Tour); Peter Pan (Exeter Northcott); Bumblescratch (Adelphi Theatre); Biedermann and the Arsonists (Sadler’s Wells).
Elena Peña designed the sound for Hir by Taylor Mac and Islands by Caroline Horton at the Bush Theatre. Other theatre credits include: The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic, Royal & Derngate); Pixel Dust and Wonder (Edinburgh Festival); The Bear/The Proposal, Flashes (Young Vic); The Lounge (Soho Theatre – Offie Nomination For Best Sound Design); Boat (Company Three, Battersea Arts Centre); Years Of Sunlight (Theatre 503); Sleepless (Shoreditch Town Hall, Staatstheater Mainz); I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre); Patrias (Sadlers Wells Theatre, Eif); Thebes Land, Brimstone And Treacle (Arcola Theatre); The Christians (Gate Theatre, Traverse Theatre); Brainstorm (ICT, National Theatre); The Kilburn Passion, Arabian Nights (Tricycle Theatre); Not Now Bernard (Unicorn Theatre); Pim & Theo (Nie With Odsherred Teater, Denmark, Unicorn Theatre); Mass Observation (Almeida Theatre); Village Social (National Theatre Wales); Quimeras (Sadlers Wells, Eif); The 13 Midnight Challenges Of Angelus Diablo (RSC); Gambling (Soho Theatre); My Name Is Sue (Soho Theatre, Bristol Old Vic); Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate).
Sound installation includes: Have Your Circumstances Changed? and Yes These Eyes Are The Windows (Artangel). Television/Online includes: Brainstorm Live at Television Centre (BBC4 and iPlayer); The Astro Science Challenge (Online Television Episodes, Unlimited Theatre). Radio includes: The Meet Cute (Recordist /Sd/Editor/Musician, BBC R4) Twelve Years (Recordist / SD / Editor, BBC R4).
Kirsty Housley is a theatre director, writer and dramaturg and she is an associate of Complicité. Work with Complicité includes: The Encounter (UK/International Tour – Co-Director), Seen and Not Heard (Southbank Centre), A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer (National Theatre – Dramaturg) and War and War (Pleasance). Other recent directing includes: The Believers Are But Brothers (Ovalhouse, WYP and Northern Stage – Co-Director); Wanted (Chris Goode and Company /Transform Festival/WestYorkshire Playhouse), Walking The Tightrope (Offstage andTheatre Uncut), All I Want (Live Theatre, Leeds Libraries and Jackson’s Lane) and Mass (Amy Mason / Bristol Old Vic / CPT). She is currently collaborating with Bryony Kimmings, Complicité, The Unicorn and the Bush Theatre. Her play Myth (written with Matt Hartley, from an original idea from Kirsty) opened at the RSC in Spring 2017.
Omar is an award winning Italian/Palestinian theatre director, deviser and performer, who trained at Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris. He joined the Bush in 2012 alongside Madani Younis and since then has been the resident Associate Director. He is in charge of the Bush’s talent development, leading on the Associate Artists and Project 2036 schemes. He is also involved in the development and delivery of the Bush’s artistic program and lead the programming of the RADAR festival between 2012 and 2015. His directing credits for the Bush include gig theatre sensation Misty by Arinzé Kene, the Edinburgh Fringe First winning NASSIM by Nassim Soleimanpour, One Cold Dark Night by Nancy Harris and Islands by Caroline Horton. As Associate Director, he has worked alongside Madani Younis on the Bush’s productions of The Royale, Perseverance Drive and Chalet Lines. Other credits include acclaimed site-specific production The Mill – City of Dreams, Olivier Award nominated You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy, Testa di Rame (Italy), Les P’tites Grandes Choses (France) and L’Envers du Décor (France).
Rajha Shakiry is a freelance theatre designer and maker, who works across the spectrum of scripted and devised theatre, dance, musical theatre, and opera. She was born in Iraq and educated in England, completing a degree in Mathematics before re-training in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art (BA) and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (MA, distinction). Rajha’s work has most recently been exhibited at the V&A (Make:Believe, 2015) and as a World Stage Design 2013 finalist.
Recent projects include: Nine Night (National Theatre), Misty (Bush Theatre), The Mountaintop (Young Vic/JMK), Mobile (The Paper Birds), The Head Wrap Diaries (The Place, Uchenna Dance), I Stand Corrected and Muhammad Ali & Me (both Mojisola Adebayo). Rajha’s current collaborations include projects with Spare Tyre and Kali Theatre, alongside work at Trafalgar Studios, National Theatre and Bush Theatre.
Shiloh is currently starring in Small Island at the National Theatre, directed by Rufus Norris on the Oliver stage. She previously appeared in Arinze Kene’s critically-acclaimed show Misty at the Bush, which transferred to the Trafalgar Studios, for which she was also an MD and Musician. Other stage credits include Emilia (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Tempest (Donmar Warehouse/ St Anne’s Warehouse New York), Julius Caesar (Donmar Warehouse) and Henry IV (Donmar Warehouse).
On screen Shiloh will soon appear in Aisling Bea’s new comedy This Way Up for Channel 4.
Stewart is the Associate Dramaturg at the Bush Theatre, working to identify and build relationships with new writers, commission new work and guide plays to the stage. Prior to joining the Bush in 2016, Stewart was the Artistic Director of the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington for three years, winning the OffWestEnd Award for Best Artistic Director for his work in 2015. As a playwright, he won the 2017 Papatango New Writing Prize for Trestle, and his other works for the stage include The Ghost Hunter and You Look Tasty!. His debut short-film, Whisper, won multiple awards across the world. He has also worked as a producer, KS2 drama teacher and a theatre critic for publications including Time Out, The Stage and New Scientist.