MAKE ME FEEL

About

“Love is not transactional. It is cyclical. It grows. It biodegrades. It fertilises.”

This should be the happiest time in their lives. Jamie and Ruby. Together forever. First in their friendship group to get married. So why does Jamie feel so sad and scared all the time?

With spa trips, stag dos, and a big wedding on the horizon, MAKE ME FEEL explores how we ask for help in a world that feels like it isn’t listening.

Written by Bush Writers’ Group alumni Will Jackson (Clutch) for the 18-25 Bush Young Company, and directed by Bush Associate Director Katie Greenall, this world premiere is hilarious and heartfelt. Think Love Actually meets Normal People.

Our 18-25 Bush Young Company returns to our main stage and with the final show of this cohort’s tenure.

Our Bush Young Company productions were made possible this year by the generous support of individuals who donated via our Big Give campaign. Our Bush Young Companies also received vital support this year from John Lyon’s Charity and Buffini Chao Foundation.

Creative Team

Will Jackson

Writer

Will Jackson

Writer

Will Jackson is a Birmingham-based writer, actor and director. He is an alumnus of the Bush Theatre’s Emerging Writers Group, and his play Clutch (★★★★ Observer) premiered as part of the Bush’s 50th anniversary season.

Will was named ‘A Rising Comic Star’ by Attitude for his solo show Yours Sincerely, which toured over 100 performances across the UK, including a critically acclaimed run at Soho Theatre. Soho and Homotopia Festival have since commissioned him as part of the latest Soho Six cohort. Will is an Associate Artist at National Youth Theatre, and has also written a new Christmas musical, DASHING!, with Matthew Floyd Jones, which recently received a sharing at The Other Palace.

Writing credits include: Confetti & Fashion Spies (Quick Duck Theatre, UK TOURS); The Final Showdown (Birmingham Hippodrome); Magic Hour: The Murder Mystery Disco! (Winner of the Singularity of Vision and Best Ensemble awards – National Student Drama Festival); and The Life & Works of Veronica St. Claude (BBC Radio 4).
Katie Greenall

Associate Director

Katie Greenall

Associate Director

Katie Greenall (she/they) is a director, theatre maker, and writer based in NE London, specializing in new writing, solo autobiographical work, and youth/community projects. They are the Associate Director at the Bush Theatre, where she also leads the Young Companies. Notable directing credits include COMMUNION, As We Face the Sun (Offie-nominated),ANTHEM, Pass It On & Back Up! (Bush Theatre) and We All Know How This Ends and here, here, here (Theatre Royal Stratford East). They were also the Associate Director on Barcelona at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

As a writer, Katie was part of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective and a Resident Artist (2018-19). She has been long-listed for the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course, alumni of the Soho Writer’s Course and was a finalist for the Popcorn Award in 2023. Her solo show FATTY FAT FAT won the VAULTS Origins Award (2019) and had a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their current solo show BLUBBER explores body image through synchronised swimming and whales, and after a critically acclaimed run at Summerhall in 2024, will tour nationally and internationally in 2026.
XANA

Composer

XANA

Composer

XANA is a composer, spatial sound artist, music supervisor and a haptic specialist sound designer developing accessible audio systems for theatre and live art spaces. Xana is the music science and technology lead and project mentor supporting Black artists and inventors at audio research label Inventing Waves.

Theatre credits: After Sunday (Belgrade); Alterations (National); Conversations After Sex (Park Theatre); Pig Heart Boy (Unicorn Theatre); Shifters, Barcelona (Duke of York); Dead Girls Rising (Silent Uproar, UK Tour); Not Your Superwoman, Speed, The Real Ones, My Fathers Fable, Elephant, Sleepova, The P Word, Strange Fruit (Bush); The Architect (ATC/GDIF); Beautiful Thing (Stratford East); Imposter 22, Word:Play, Living Newspaper #4 (Royal Court); Rumble In the Jungle (Rematch:Live); Anna Karenina (Edinburgh Lyceum, Bristol Old Vic); Intimate Apparel, The Trials, Marys Seacole (Donmar); Earthworks, Sundown Kiki: Reloaded, The Collaboration, Sundown Kiki, Changing Destiny, Fairview, Ivan and the Dogs (Young Vic); …cake (Theatre Peckham); Who Killed My Father (Tron); as british as a watermelon (Contact); Hyde and Seek (Guildhall); Burgerz (Hackney Showroom); King Troll (The Fawn); Everyday (Deafinitely) (New Diorama); Black Holes (The Place); Hive City Legacy (Roundhouse); Main Character Energy, But Daddy I love her, Glamrou: From Quran to Queen, Curious, Half-Breed (Soho Theatre); Blood Knot, Guards At The Taj (Orange Tree Theatre); Samuel Takes A Break, SEX SEX MEN MEN (Yard); Limp Wrist & Iron Fist, Everything I own, Is Dat Yu Yeah (Brixton House).

Black British Theatre Awards; Best Sound Design 2023 (Win), Best Sound Design 2024 (Win)

Theatre Awards Offie; King Troll (The Fawn) (Win), Shifters (Win), Guards at The Taj (Win), Sleepova (Nom), The P Word (Nom), Blood Knot (Finalist)

Olivier: Olivier Award for The P Word production award 2023, Olivier Award for Sleepova production award 2024
Mateus Daniel

Movement Director

Mateus Daniel

Movement Director

Mateus Daniel is a Movement director, Choreographer and facilitator from south London. He has built a love and curiosity for telling stories physically that express themes of culture, change and transitions, and has used his experiences within dance and theatre to influence his current gothic lyrical style. His work can be seen on various leading UK stages, magazines and films and his personal projects thematically take on a melodramatic, gothic perspective. In addition Mateus was a 2022 nominee for Best Choreographer or Movement Director for The Black British Theatre Awards.

Movement Director credits include: Passion Fruit (New Diorama); Chicken Burger and Chips (Brixton House); The Boys Are Kissing (Theatre 503); Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial (Ambassador Theatre); Our eyes look to God (Festival d’Aix-en Provence); What I hear I keep (Talawa Theatre); As we face the sun (Bush Theatre); TERRA XYZ (Wonderland magazine); TRIBE (Young Vic); Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix Theatre), No More Mr Nice Guy (Broadway theatre/Bristol Old Vic); Communion (Bush Theatre); Vitamin D (soho theatre); Purgatory (Donmar warehouse); B*tch Boxer (Watford Palace Theatre); a practical guide on how to save the world… (Tara Theatre); spectacle of the surreal (V&A Museum); How to win against History (Bristol Old Vic).
Chloe Stally-Gibson

Production Manager

Chloe Stally-Gibson

Production Manager

Chloe is a freelance production manager and former associate artist of Zoo Co Theatre Company and ChewBoy Productions.

Her recent work includes: Shifters (Bush & Duke of York’s); Punch, A Face In The Crowd (Young Vic); Perfect Show For Rachel (Barbican); Tender, This Might Not Be It, Insane Asylum Seekers (Bush); Playhouse Creatures (JCTP); Silence (Tara Theatre).
Hazel Low

Set & Costume Designer

Hazel Low

Set & Costume Designer

Hazel Low is a performance designer and collaborator across theatre, live art and spatial design.

Recent Credits include: Playfight (Paines Plough, Roundabout and UK Tour); The Glorious French Revolution (New Diorama Theatre); Blubber (Summerhall); The Legend of Ned Ludd (Liverpool Everyman); succession theme is my ringtone (Rose Theatre); Tiger (Omnibus Theatre); Bonfire (Derby Theatre, Sheffield Theatre, Non Such); As We Face The Sun and Pass It On (Bush Theatre); Who Killed My Father (Tron Theatre and Scottish Tour – co-design with Blythe Brett); Splintered (Soho Theatre); Brilliant Jerks (Southwark Playhouse); Paradise Now! (Bush Theatre -co-costume designer and design associate); I, Joan (Shakespeare’s Globe – design associate); Bogeyman (Pleasance Queendome);The Magic Flute (Royal College of Music – co-designed with Rosie Elnile); Trainers (Gate Theatre – design assistant).

Spatial design projects include NDT Broadgate (design associate) and the Royal Court’s pop up bar Court in the Square in 2021.
Joshie Harriette

Lighting Designer

Joshie Harriette

Lighting Designer

Lighting Designer Joshie was the winner of the ‘Lighting Recognition Award’ at Black British Theatre Awards 2023 and was 2023 fellow with Factory International.

Lighting designs include: Shirley Valentine (Liverpool Everyman); Dawns y Ceirw (Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru); Legacy (RBO); The House of MCR (Factory International Manchester); The New Real (RSC); Bear Snores On (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); No More Mr Nice Guy (Nouveau Riche, UK Tour); Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist (The Other Palace, The Lyric Theatre and UK Tour); The Princess and the Pea (Unicorn Theatre); Evita (Curve Theatre); Nutcracker (Southbank, Tuff Nut Jazz Club); The Legends of Them (Brixton House); Dream of Delphi Tour (Bat for Lashes, Queen Elizabeth Hall); Sucker Punch (National Theatre and UK Tour); Outcast (Scottish Ballet); Say Something (National Dance Company Wales); Hot House, The Instrumentals (UK Tour); Eve and Cain (Queens Theatre Hornchurch) and Warrior Queens (Julia Cheng, Sadler’s Wells).
Eliott Sheppard

Stage Manager

Eliott Sheppard

Stage Manager

Eliott trained on the Profession Stage Management course at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He is also the host of The Stagey Place, a podcast that interviews backstage creatives in theatre.

Stage Management Credits Include: Wizard Of Oz (National UK Tour); Jack and The Beanstalk (Saffron Hall); After The Act (National UK Tour); The Ice at The End of The World (Omnibus Theatre); Divine Invention (Summerhall, Edinburgh); Dog Sh*t (Theatre503); Treasure Island (National UK Tour); Goldilocks and The Three Bears (The Grange Theatre); Family Tree (National UK Tour); The Elephant Song (The Park Theatre); Salt (Theatre503); Fritz and Matlock, All By Myself, Bloody Mary (Pleasance Courtyard, EICC, Zoo Venues); I Can’t Hear You (Theatre503); Jane Eyre (Minack Theatre); The Straw Chair (Finborough Theatre); and We Are Here (The Bush Theatre).
Elise Paige André

Assistant Stage Manager

Elise Paige André

Assistant Stage Manager

Elise Paige André is a dedicated Stage Manager with a passion for storytelling and love of live performance. Her career includes interning at the Old Vic on Machinal, serving as Deputy Stage Manager on Cyrano at the Park Theatre, and supporting three productions at the vibrant Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024. There, she worked alongside Daisy Boulton (Edge of Time), Offie winner Sara Jane Harvey (Neurochatter), and Offie and Fringe First winners Xhloe & Natasha (And Then Rodeo Burned Down, What If They Ate The Baby?, A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson).

Though self-taught, Elise developed her skills through shadowing acclaimed productions such as My Beautiful Laundrette (Curve Theatre), For Black Boys…, Bluets (Royal Court), and Hamilton (Victoria Palace). With degrees in Film and Teaching, she combines keen attention to detail with effective communication. Elise is a strong supporter of emerging artists and loves being part of bold, collaborative theatre.
Amy Crighton

Dramaturg

Amy Crighton

Dramaturg

Amy Crighton is a theatre director and dramaturg from the Midlands with a particular focus on developing new work in conjunction with writers and working with new technologies.

They are the Co-Artistic Director of Votive Theatre who were selected for the Barrel Organ & Company development scheme 2022. Amy was recently the recipient of the Jerwood New Work Fund, which supported them to direct CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER in a sold-out run at Camden People’s Theatre. They were an associate of Nottingham theatre company New Perspectives in 2022/23 and have had work showcased at the Curve Theatre as part of the National Student Drama Festival.

Amy spent 2 years as Literary Assistant at the Bush Theatre working as a dramaturg and supporting on the Bush’s artist development schemes. She is a reader for the George Devine Award and Royal Shakespeare Company.

Amy was the recipient of Rose Theatre’s 2023 Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellowship where they assisted directors Jeff James (Shooting Hedda Gabler) and Monique Touko (The Boy at the Back of the Class – UK tour).