As one of the biggest hitters in the new writing firmament, the Bush Theatre has great playwriting form. RADAR, its annual festival of raw talent, is a great chance to see some of the most exciting new names cheek to cheek with big hitters.

Now in its fourth year this tightly curated selection is hand picked by the Bush Theatre creative team, and what these guys and gals don’t know about new writing…

This year looks like a doozy with work from, amongst others, actor Arinze Kene, alternative theatre darling Christopher Brett Bailey, Nassim Soleimanpour (whose show White Rabbit, Red Rabbit stormed the festival circuit last year) and spoken word impresarios Apples and Snakes.

Run Riot talks to Bush Theatre Associate Director Omar Elerian about this eclectic fourth season, the importance of bringing international work to London’s increasingly cosmopolitan audience, why devising as a playwriting tool isn’t as new as it seems, how story is at the heart of everything he and the Bush Theatre do and why being proactive about diversity is as easy as - if not 1, 2, 3 - then reflecting the world around you. Other theatres, look to it…

Honour Bayes: You trained at Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School, which is a fundamentally physical pedagogy. What onward path led you to new writing?

Omar Elerian: I have always worked in new writing (but perhaps in continental Europe categories are a bit more fluid), creating new work in many different ways, from devising and collaborative writing to site specific shows. There was always a script, and thorough work on dramaturgy. After working together in Yorkshire, Madani Younis invited me to join him as Associate Director at the Bush Theatre when he was appointed Artistic Director. 

I don't like restrictive definitions of new writing, nor the polarised argument around playwriting vs devising; plays are made, in many different ways, and at the Bush we're lucky to be able to work with a range of artists and writers that use very different processes to get their stories on stage. 

Honour Bayes: Your work with Associates at the Bush has put a focus on encouraging devised work and new forms of creating text as well as the ‘lone playwright’ format. Is this a trend you see spreading? 

Omar Elerian: There are more and more theatre-makers around the country developing work on their own terms than ever before - it is natural that these experiences increasingly find space and traction within buildings, especially in new writing. I'm not sure we could speak about new forms of creating text, because artists have always been creating work in a variety of ways. Mike Leigh "devised" Abigail's Party in 1977. I think new writing theatres like the Bush are trying to adapt to the moment in which they exist, and artists are becoming more aware of how to claim their spaces and reach audiences. At the end of the day, though, it's always the work that will speak for itself. Apart from the theatre geeks, who cares if the play was written by 1 or 10 authors, as long as it had the desired impact on its audience.

Honour Bayes: You share your Parisian training with collaborator Caroline Horton (who studied at Philippe Gaulier). The reaction to Islands - one of the shows you worked on together - was virulent; do you think this indicates that the British attitude to new writing is still quite rigid? 

Omar Elerian: I'm not convinced that the reaction provoked by Islands in some critics and audiences was related entirely to the form being less familiar or altogether alien to British stages. We had great responses from audiences young and old who had never seen anything like it before. I believe it had to do more with its deliberately un-subtle and militant attempt to demystify and desecrate its subject: power, money, tax havens and the few who have it all at the expense of the rest. Many seemed to want it to reveal more about the issue, or to be presented with a balanced argument, but we never set out to do that and there are great books and documentaries that do that job. I think theatre allows us to confront with these issues as a community in a much more visceral and unexpected way, drawing on a wider range of emotions and references. In that way I believe Islands succeeded, as people can't seem to stop having conversations - or asking questions about it. 

Honour Bayes: How important is it to bring more international work and artists to Off West End stages?

Omar Elerian: It is vital, as London becomes more cosmopolitan every day. The number of languages spoken keeps on growing, children are increasingly bi or tri lingual, and the influx of foreigners - both rich and poor - is already shaping the cultural fabric of this great city. To be able to experience different perspectives will be increasingly important in order to truly understand the context we live in. It's already happening at a grassroots level, with artists from all over the world coming to study and work in the UK and then going on to produce work on the fringe or small scale theatres. Inevitably, they will claim their space in the institutions as they progress with their career and their audiences will become embedded into the cultural landscape.

Honour Bayes: The programming ethos of RADAR seems very eclectic. How did you choose what to programme this year and does it have an overarching theme?

Omar Elerian: RADAR aims to present a snapshot of the most exciting and diverse new writing and new work being produced in this country and beyond. It cannot be comprehensive of course, but we spend the best part of the year meeting with artists, reading scripts, attending sharings and shows to find the work we feel represents the world through many different perspectives. This year you'll find bright new discoveries like Racheal Ofori and Vivienne Acheampong sharing the stage with heavyweights like Steve Waters. There is never a theme to the festival; we hope to be able to capture the pulse of new writing year by year and offer our audiences the opportunity to meet artists that we believe will go on to do great things. 

Honour Bayes: For me all the pieces seem to have story and narrative at their heart (even a dance piece like Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me)). Is this something you recognise? 

Omar Elerian: Definitely. As a new writing theatre, our main focus is the story. The form will then enhance the way that story might be told. We look high and low for artists who put storytelling at the heart of their process, because that's what we believe our society is constantly stimulated by. Paradise Lost is a great example. It's an honest, compelling and masterfully delivered piece of storytelling from an artist who found a perfect balance between form and content.

Honour Bayes: Where does narrative figure within your own practice as a director?

Omar Elerian: There's always a story at the heart. It might be the narrative written by the playwright within the action of the play, or it might be the story of how the audience experience the piece, or of what is happening on stage. Even objects and space within the play tend to have journeys and stories, with their own arc and dynamic. Of course every production needs a different approach, but I enjoy working on plays and shows where different levels of narrative can work simultaneously, and each level contributes to the experience of watching and listening to the play. 

Honour Bayes: Diversity – or lack of it - within the theatre world is currently under the spotlight. In an industry belied with institutional obstacles that compound this issue, the Bush stands out as an organisation whose programme is admirably multi-cultural. What’s your secret?

Omar Elerian: There's no secret. At the Bush we cannot posit an approach to diversity, because we ARE diverse, from the head down. We are interested by different stories and experiences; we want to see our friends and families attending our shows; we believe that we're building cultural capital for our generation and the next - the most "diverse" this country will see in its history. We're just living the present moment, and while there are still many obstacles to surpass even within our organisation, we like to think that doing our job is better than talking about how others should do it. 

Honour Bayes: I can’t wait to see Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) and Blank by Nassim Soleimanpour. What are your RADAR 2015 highlights?

Omar Elerian: All of this year’s shows are great, wildly different and worth every minute of the commute to Shepherd's Bush. I'm curious to see how Antler have kept evolving their show If I Were Me, they're a great young company full of imagination and ideas. And Steve Waters' In A Vulnerable Place is a very special monologue on climate change, a quietly moving call to action to "manage the unavoidable and avoid the unmanageable".

RADAR 2015

11-26 November

Bush Theatre