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Finalist for the 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Break-ups aren't just about who gets the CD collection. As Jo and Harry begin to untangle themselves from each other, new worlds start to open up—worlds filled with new partners, new identities, new possibilities…
What kind of women do they want to be, and do they have the courage, or the permission, to get there? Chris Bush's play Otherland is a bold and beautiful exploration of what it means to be true to yourself in the face of unstoppable change.
Bittersweet, uplifting and profoundly enlightening, this deeply felt drama brings remarkable clarity to some knotty and tremendously contentious topics…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.
—The Stage
Tremendous…memorably surprising and satisfying.
—The Times
Lively, humane…tackles hot button issues with sensitivity and compassion.
—Evening Standard
Bush's focus is always on the human heart beating beneath the strained surface, especially when it finds moments of joyous jubilation…you can sense her lived experience as a trans woman delicately coiled within the play's DNA…one of the UK's most erudite and important writers.
—BroadwayWorld
Brimming with humour and compassion…a powerful reminder of how theatre lets us live beyond our own bodies.
—Guardian
Deeply moving…an affecting plea for connection and understanding.
—Telegraph
Quietly radical…the story challenges us with knotty, thorny, nuance.
—Time Out
A vivid, beautifully written take on the trans experience…Bush's writing is as fresh as a sea breeze and as lyrical as birdsong.
—Arts Desk
A beautiful expression of compassion, sensitivity and bold celebration of womanhood…cements Chris Bush as one of the great playwrights to watch.
—Theatre and Tonic
Bush's most personal work yet…worthwhile, moving, and very much needed.
—Reviews Hub
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.
—All That Dazzles
Chris Bush is a playwright, lyricist, and theatremaker. 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); Hungry (Paines Plough, 2021); Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, Lyric Hammersmith and Birmingham Rep, 2020); The Last Noël (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2019); Standing at the Sky's Edge, 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); and The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, written with Matt Winkworth (Theatr Clwyd, 2018).