Bush Theatre is Big Winner at This Year's 'Offies'
With awards for Madani Younis and two productions, Leave Taking and Misty
Arinzé Kene in Misty Photo: Helen Murray
The Bush Theatre was one of the biggest winners at this year's Off-West End Awards, better known as the Offies.
A special award for Best Artistic Director was presented to Madani Younis, who recently completed his final season
at the Bush.
Awards were also given to three of the most successful production of the last year, Arinzé Kene's Misty, which has since transferred to the West End and Leave Taking.
Misty won the its creator Arinzé the award for Best Performance Piece - plus the Video Design award for Daniel Denton.
Misty as also shortlisted for Best New Play and Best Production and The Bush's Associate Director Omar Elerian, who is also leaving the Uxbridge Road theatre this spring, was also shortlisted for Best Director.
Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock, a moving account of a second generation immigrant family navigating the familial conflicts between generations, brought in awards for two of its stars. Wil Johnson won Male Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play, and Sarah Niles won Best Female Performance in a Play.
Actress Monica Dolan was also nominated for Best Female Performance for another Bush production, The B*easts.
Another highly praised production, Jellyfish, a coming of age romance starring Sarah Gordy, an actress with Down's Syndrome, won its writer Ben Weatherill a place on the shortlist for Most Promising New Playwright.
Hosted this year at Battersea Arts Centre, the Offies recognise work created in off-West End venues across London with a team of assessors and super assessors seeing shows before winners are decided by a panel of judges. In total, over 400 shows across 80 venues were judged throughout 2018.
February 18, 2019