THE RENDITION MEETS DANIEL BAILEY
Image Credit - Helen Murray
When we reflect on the Bush Theatre, several powerful themes emerge: a sense of home, fresh perspectives, and a celebration of Black joy. For the past six years, these themes have been championed by Artistic Director Lynette Linton and Associate Artistic Director Daniel Bailey.
Together, they have redefined the theatrical landscape, presenting an extraordinary range of productions that have transformed the Bush Theatre into a vital hub for the community of West London and beyond. Daniel Bailey's notable contributions include standout works such as Red Pitch, August in England, and The High Table.
In this conversation, we delve into Daniel's career journey, the pivotal moments of his time at the Bush, and the lasting legacy he aspires to cultivate.
“So I guess my philosophy and perspective of how we see the world and being able to present that on stage feels synonymous with the work that I make”
QUESTION: Can you share with us one of your favourite memories from your time at the Bush Theatre?
Daniel: It’s been almost six years for me. I started in 2019, in 2025 it will be six years. I've had so many favourite moments here, honestly. Working here has been such a blessing, I’ve seen so many different people come through this building; it might be writers, directors, you know, set designers, young people (and) staff members - like there have been so many great memories that it's really hard for me to say.
But if I had to think of one or two I would say probably, you know, once we put our first program out into the world and it had a couple of the big hits like; Baby Reindeer, I think I did my first show as well, which was High Table. So that would probably be my initial memory just that first season, that really set the tone. I remember myself, Deirdre (O’Halloran) and Lyn (Lynette Linton) then just talking about making work that comes from the UK and Ireland and being very specific about it.
QUESTION: You’ve had an incredible journey at the Bush Theatre. Can you tell us about your career history and how your experience here has shaped you as a director?
Daniel: There's a point in time when I left university and I wanted to go to teaching and I want to teach drama, so I thought, the best place for me to do that is to go to a youth centre.
I go to a youth centre and I'm there with young people who don't need to be there, that will sharpen my teaching skills and keep people engaged, stuff that was kind of the idea and then I got into my head a little bit, and I thought like, how do you teach people, drama if you don't actually do the thing?
It’s such a practical tool and it's so experience based that it feels like you need to have hands-on experience? So I was like, oh, do you know what? I'm going to go and do everything. So I did a bit of acting and I did a bit of directing and I did a bit of writing, and then I just carried on and formed a company called New Heritage Theatre that we couldn't really register because I think there was already one in America. But it was cool, because we are still a brand over here and we got people who wouldn’t necessarily go into theatre to see theatre and every night we would have around 120 people come through those doors and it was such a special thing.
I started that with some real people like big big now who were doing amazing things now, people who were my mates essentially who came in to support us. Like all of those people were very much part of that beginning chapter to becoming a director.
After that, I'd say I kind of fell into it because someone gave me a job on a film. I was asked to do some acting coaching and I remember the director, sent me a message and was like, “thank you so much for getting these actors prepared - you’ve basically done all my work for me, I just need to think about the shots” - and that was the moment when I started thinking of myself as a director.
So, I just continued that journey and made stuff. I came into it so naively thinking I could go into any of these buildings, so I just contacted the National Theatre, contacted the Young Vic and was like, ”yo, I'm doing this thing”, and luckily someone came to come and see my show.
From there, I got a job at the NT (National Theatre), on the back of it and that was like my real beginning to be in the industry. From the National I went on to do more things with New Heritage, and then I went to the Finborough and then from the Finborough, I went to Stoke, spent a couple of months out there in New Vic Theatre, away from everybody, which is really nice. Then I went to Brum (Birmingham) and I stayed in Brum for five years which was amazing.
QUESTION: The Bush Theatre is known for telling diverse, untold stories. Why is it important to continue telling ‘our stories,’ and how does this impact your approach to directing?
Daniel: I’ll answer the second part of your question, but I'm going to ask you this is the first part of the question. Does The Rendition exist if there aren’t spaces like this doing the work? And if it exists because of spaces like this, that tells me why it's important. That tells me why we continue to make the work that we make, because when I think about The Rendition, and the idea of the Black Ticket Project - Tobi’s project and other initiatives - that came from us essentially.
There were people who were getting to see the work, who didn't know that we existed, who couldn't see themselves represented until this point here; there were people who had stories to tell that were, you know, they were worth their weight in gold and that have now transcended beyond the stage into so many different forms and that be audiobooks and that be, you know, research material and that be films and that be TV programs and that be a whole culture, of work and a whole period of work that have come out with our time here and and beyond here.
My time in Brum, Lyns time at Donamar - all that work has laid the foundation for other creatives to build on and to create work that feels authentic to them that feels authentic themselves, without any apology. I think that was happening to some degree but it just didn't feel like it was happening for a lot of people within our culture and there wasn’t a place dedicated to it in the way that we kind of dedicate ourselves to it.
So I'd say for that reason, it feels like it still serves a purpose and how it informs my workers I've only ever made shows like this, which is mad, like I like you know, I'm not saying that I won’t diversify the portfolio, I’m sure I will, but most of my work, if not all my work, I've made in a professional level has been new writing. Even when it comes to films, it’s all been new writing, everything feels like it's something that's been grown organically.
QUESTION: In your “BIG NEWS” message with Lynette Linton, you both mentioned that your aim “was to disrupt the cannon” with you going on to say “I think we’ve disrupted the whole industry”..
What challenges have you faced in trying to bring about this disruption, and how have those challenges influenced your approach as a director?
Daniel: So I will talk about disruption first first before I talk about the challenges.
(Regarding disruption) that’s always been my case hence why people talk about me and say vibes and chaos or me and Lyn talk about vibes and chaos quite a lot because that is the best way to describe us.
But I remember going forward to an interview and a few other directors asked me what I want to do and I was like “I wanna make noise”. I wanna make so much noise and I just remember getting that job and I got an email (Roxanna) saying, “I can't wait to hear the noise that you make in Birmingham”. And that just stuck with me, it really stuck with me.
I’ve just never gone about life in the most conventional way, nothing has been conventional in my life. So that's the kind of work, or, that's the way that I've seen stuff, you know, stuff needs to change. Like there's always change, in 30 years time I hope people are disrupting all the work that I’ve done for the greater good.
And I guess the challenges that come with that is that people are always comfortable when the state is quo right? If things happen, and it's been happening for a long time, and it works for most people, and I the majority of people because we are only the minority here, right? then why would they change that?
I remember specifically having a conversation with a couple of directors and one of the questions that someone asked me was like, “oh why haven't you done an American bill?” And I was like, I love American work. I really do, and I will do American work, but there are stories that exist here that still haven't been told, big epic stories, small quiet stories, lyrical stories, stories with edge and stories that, will move people and I was like, those stories haven't been done yet, and so my purpose is to make those bits of work first.
Hence why getting Red Pitch into the end was a massive thing for us because I was like I’ve done it with the little show that we started in the corner somewhere in West London. And so these challenges come with people feeding threatened about their positions. I've always told directors to knock on people's doors, send them the email, go to their workplace and ask if they would not mind having a tea with you at some point and make sure you’ve got your questions prepared.
So those challenges come when people think you're a bit too forward, but, if you are disrupting something that means something there is some level of stability for it to need to be disrupted, and people are scared of change so challenges come with that.
Image Credit - The Rendition
“I will never leave the theatre here and this place will stay in my heart, the Bush will stay in the heart forever.”
QUESTION: What have been some of the most rewarding experiences or moments of joy that you’ve encountered while working to “disrupt the canon” ?
Daniel: Everything.
Bringing Red Pitch to the audience first and foremost, like you know we’ve told this story so many times but we started with this 10-minute piece. We started this idea that existed in Tyrell’s head and to work with that piece to the point where people are recognising it globally, that is an incredible feat. This guy from North West London, this guy from South London got together and created something that would live in the hearts and minds of people for the rest of their lives and people got to witness it - and if you didn’t get to witness it, you know about it and that is such an incredible thing. So I'd say that was one of the most rewarding things.
The other thing is, I'm always about making sure that the ladder gets passed down. Seeing all the directors that I mentored or worked with or I’ve given an opportunity to come through, the writers come through, people that I worked through at the beginning of my journey, now doing amazing things in TV and the film. I can sit back and relax and know that my legacy is tidy, it's beautiful.
QUESTION: What advice would you give to aspiring Black artists and directors who want to make an impact in the theatre industry?
Daniel: I'm going to keep going on about this, but I think right now the industry needs resilience because all that's happening is, the funding has been taken out of it. There are spaces where I used to go and just spend a couple of hundred quid to have a show. You can't do that as much anymore because there is so much red tape around it. You've got to have a level of resilience, you know what I mean? It requires a bit of thick skin, of course, that doesn't mean that you can't be soft, doesn't mean you can't be delicate, it doesn't mean you can't be vulnerable.
But in times of adversity, having a bit of resilience, will just help you get over the line, and help you get past the challenging situations. So I would say find resilience, have resilience, build resilience, and that will come through building stuff and making stuff and get into rooms with people that you wouldn't necessarily think you should get in a room, but get into those rooms, right?
Not to traumatise yourself by familiarising yourself with this type of person, and this type of person, and that will build resilience. So I think get into as many rooms as you can, and even if you just observe for a bit, it makes you so much stronger and better for it.
QUESTION: As you move on from the Bush Theatre, what kind of stories or projects are you most excited to pursue next in your career?
Daniel: Right now I'm really loving the time that I'm spending with my son. I'm just enjoying it so much. He’s nine years old and he's curious and he's funny and he's inventive and like he's just got all the energy in the world and so I'm wanting to make stuff for him; specifically for his age groups, and young people around up and down the country So I want to make a bit of that stuff and I think again how you disrupt canons, right?
That we can go in there and be like I'm going to make a young people show that young person show is going to be about all the things that I enjoy and all the things that I think young people will enjoy. Then they will be the ones that will be the trendsetters later on, the culture makers later on and the policy makers later on. If you can get to them now and you can share empty with them and like different levels of it. You feel like they're doing a great thing but also having loads of fun doing that great thing.
But I'm going to do some young people's work, I think I might work abroad because I've been dying to go back abroad. I haven't been abroadworking since probably 2007, maybe 2008. So I want to go and work in Europe and I want to go work in West Africa and potentially if I get a chance, maybe even America. So I want to do a bit of that and then, of course, the other thing is I'm going back to my other love, which is film and TV which is where I started.
QUESTION: What do you hope your legacy at the Bush Theatre will be? How do you want to be remembered by the artists and audiences you’ve worked with?
Daniel: I would want people to think that I did the best I could whilst being here. I would want people to feel like we’ve done the job that we set out today and carried it out. I would want people to think that I am genuine and I guess I'd want the legacy to be that we said we're gonna start this thing and we did it, you know. We've done it, we completed that task.
So it's all right, for this to be a dream and for us to achieve it because we can now pivot to another dream and I want that to feel like it's an accessible thing for people and we go, we can do that, you know - in any industry, we can do that.
Daniel Bailey is currently directing Wolves on Road by Beru Tessema - a play that explores the lives of two young me with big dreams. A new story, a fresh perspective for stage and a tale that encapsulates the work that Daniel has been doing at the Bush Theatre for the past 5 years.
Wolves on Road is showing at Bush Theatre from 09 November — 21st December.
