Part of the point of the fringe is that it is always full of surprises. But it’s downright shocking that, hot on the heels of the makeover of the King’s Head that finally has seats that actually face the stage for the first time in my memory, the Bush has now also been completely overhauled, too.
Gone are the fixed, L-shaped seating on two sides; though a previous refurbishment that brought in benches that actually had backs to them was shocking enough, the new rows of benches are actually padded for comfort - even if, at the moment, one’s feet don’t entirely touch the ground.
That, Josie Rourke told me last night, was a design flaw that she assured me would be corrected for the next production; they’ve been constructed a little too high. But they bring with them the possibility of being entirely flexible in this space. For the current production Tinderbox, that opened last night, they were arranged in seven rows facing a pretty gilded proscenium arch that even had curtains hiding the stage! Yes, the Bush has turned itself into a miniature West End theatre!
It’s probably just an ironic joke, but whether we need another West End-shaped theatre, albeit one that only seats 80 people, is another question.
But in giving itself a new opportunity for flexibility, I just hope that the Bush hasn’t sacrificed its uniqueness along the way: some of the pleasure of coming somewhere like the old Bush was the sense of familiarity (and even the familiar sense of impending back and butt ache). You knew, when you walked up those stairs, exactly where you were going. Now you could be going anywhere: there’s nothing in this new space that says “Bush”.
Of course, the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs achieves a sense of excitement (and occasional alienation) precisely by staying entirely flexible; and that’s part of the experience there. Ditto at the Gate. How creative will they be with the space this time? And maybe the Bush will soon have new associations of surprise out of its new possibilities.
But for now, I am wondering if change is necessarily a good thing. Certainly there were sightline problems, even from the fourth row, last night that never happened in the old Bush: scenes played out on the floor couldn’t be seen. And the stage area created last night was far tinier than the expansive playing space that the old Bush used to permit.
These could, like the height of the benches off the floor, simply be teething problems. But magic, once it evaporates, is hard to re-ignite; Hampstead have learnt this to their peril in their far more handsome, but far less likeable, purpose-built space. The Bush needs to hold onto its old magic as it strives to learn new tricks.
you must be the only person in all of London Theatre to describe the stage in the previous Bush configuration as "expansive".