The Bush
★★★★☆ Relevant
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33): Wed 30 Jul – Tue 12 Aug 2025
Review by Tom Ralphs
Based on true events, The Bush, written & performed by Alice Mary Cooper recreates 1970s Australia as a group of housewives fight a David and Goliath style campaign to prevent Kelly’s Bush, an area of land in Sydney, from being turned into a housing and shopping development.
Valerie Read’s simple but effective stage design sets the scene from the outset, combining with Ainsley Kerr’s bright lighting design that brings to mind the feel of a well-lit family home in a well to do neighbourhood, immediately take you back to the 70s suburb that Cooper’s own outfit also brings to mind. Set items including a photo, phone and plastic cake cover, are deployed as props to great effect to recreate the era and the domestic setting.
Alice Mary Cooper in The Bush. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic
Telling the story in a way that evokes the long-lost spirit of Jackanory, Cooper brings to life a large cast of characters, most notably Betty James and Margaret Finch the two ladies who were the main ‘Battlers For Kelly’s Bush’. She gives all the characters distinct voices and personalities, capturing their shifting moods and emotions as they move from domestic dinner parties through to meetings with unions and politicians who promise more than they’re willing to deliver.
The level of detail built into her script adds further to the storytelling nature of the show, as layer upon layer is added, from descriptions of the clothes they are wearing and the neighbourhoods they live in, through to clever observations about house parties where the women know each others names but don’t know the names of any of their husbands, and how the thought of Builders Union involvement strikes fear of rampant communism into the heart of a naturally conservative community.
Jazzercise
Under Laila Noble’s direction, the pace never drops and the story is cleverly broken up by a very funny Jazzercise sequence that manages to condense a lot of events into a few minutes as it drives the plot forward without letting the script dwell too long on the administrative details of how the campaign got up and running and the obstacles the women faced.
Niroshini Thambar and Nik Paget-Tomlinson’s sound design here complements Cooper’s movement with the right mix of playfulness and authenticity.
While this is a period piece, there is a contemporary relevance that suggests both how present day campaigners can take inspiration from the past and how the tendency of developers to disregard history in the name of profit and commerce is really nothing new.
This is a great piece of storytelling brought to life by a storyteller with clear confidence in, and love for, the story she is telling. The Bush is due to end its run at Pleasance Courtyard on the 12th, but will go on to have three performances at Leith Community Croft later this month.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
Pleasance Courtyard (Beneath), 60 Pleasance EH8 9TJ (Venue 33).
Wednesday 30 July – Tuesday 12 August 2025.
Daily (not Wed 6): 2.20pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on EdFest.com.*
Leith Community Croft 4 John’s Place, Leith, EH6 7EL
Fri 15, Wed 20 & Sat 23Aug 2025
Fri, Wed: 6pm; Sat: 2pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
*affiliate link.
Website: www.alicemarycooper.co.uk
Facebook: @alicemarycooperartist
Instagram: @alicemarycooper
Vimeo: Show trailer
Alice Mary Cooper in The Bush. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic
ENDS
