Otherland

‘Bittersweet, uplifting and profoundly enlightening, this deeply felt drama brings remarkable clarity to some knotty and tremendously contentious topics… seamlessly blends song, surreal imagery and realistic dialogue scenes… it works brilliantly… Bush fearlessly examines the gulf between the experiences of trans women and women assigned female at birth. The arguments that follow are lacerating, but ultimately, the play’s message is hopeful and universal’

‘Tremendous… memorably surprising and satisfying’

‘Lively, humane… tackles hot button issues with sensitivity and compassion’

‘A dream-like blend of tender poetry and pulsating humanity… Chris Bush has established herself as one of the UK’s most erudite and important writers… you can sense her lived experience as a trans woman delicately coiled within the play’s DNA… just as you think you can grasp it, Bush pulls the narrative rug from under us with a genre-bending twist. Otherland playfully melts into a swirling magical realist standoff between gothic and sci-fi… Bush’s focus is always on the human heart beating beneath the strained surface, especially when it finds moments of joyous jubilation’

‘Touchingly relatable… brimming with humour and compassion… a powerful reminder of how theatre lets us live beyond our own bodies’

‘Deeply moving… cleverly frames [ideas about] womanhood around the needs and desires of two very different characters… an affecting plea for connection and understanding’

‘Quietly radical… the story challenges us with knotty, thorny, nuance… deft and deliciously strange’

‘A vivid, beautifully written take on the trans experience… Bush’s writing is as fresh as a sea breeze and as lyrical as birdsong… joyful… an often laughter-filled odyssey’

‘A beautiful expression of compassion, sensitivity and bold celebration of womanhood… a show that you will be talking about for years to come… cements Chris Bush as one of the great playwrights to watch’

‘Bush’s most personal work yet… worthwhile, moving, and very much needed’

‘Full of riches… peels back the layers with raw honesty… offers a rather different narrative structure, and the payoff is more than worth it… Chris Bush’s writing is full of depth and nuance… she has an incredible way of finding the humanity in every situation… a gorgeous and important play’

Chris Bush is a playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker. Her plays include: Otherland (Almeida Theatre, London, 2025); Robin Hood and the Christmas Heist written with Matt Winkworth (Rose Theatre, Kingston, 2024); an adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Sheffield Theatres, 2024); Rock/Paper/Scissors (Sheffield Theatres, 2022); an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme, 2022); (Not) the End of the World (Schaubühne, Berlin, 2021); Hungry (Paines Plough, 2021); Nine Lessons and Carols (Almeida Theatre, London, 2020); Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, Lyric Hammersmith & Birmingham Rep, 2020); The Last Noël (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2019); Standing at the Sky’s Edge, a musical with music and lyrics by Richard Hawley (Sheffield Theatres, 2019, revived 2022 and at the National Theatre in 2023, West End 2024); The Changing Room (National Theatre Connections, 2018); Steel (Sheffield Theatres, 2018); an adaptation of Pericles (National Theatre, London, 2018); The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, written with Matt Winkworth (Theatr Clwyd, 2018); What We Wished For and A Dream.

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