As Director:
Rush by Willi Richards
King’s Head Theatre, 2018
Trafalgar Studios, 2020 (postponed)
BBC Culture in Quarantine, 2020
Watch online here.
“beguiling […] edgy and profound” ★★★★ The Guardian
“particularly exciting […] it’s put together remarkably well” ★★★★ Gay Times
“sharp and witty […] Rush is a clever, but sensitive exploration of what love means and, despite depicting an individual situation, the emotions evoked are universal” ★★★★ A Younger Theatre
“a real gem […] quite brilliant” Victoria Sadler’s Top Theatre Picks
Full press pullings here.
Man Rupert Everett
Boy Omari Douglas
Lad Daniel Boyd
Editor Josh Williams
Technician Harold Williams
Producer Roger James Elsgood
Executive Producer Stephen Daldry
Press The Cornershop PR
at the King’s Head
Man Mark Gillis
Boy Omari Douglas
Lad Kane Surrey
Associate Director Luis Gallo Mudara
Designer Carl Robertshaw
Press Release by The Cornershop PR
RUSH is a play for anyone who’s ever told a lie to keep the peace. It’s a provocative comedy of modern manners which explores romance, desire and infidelity and debates control and convention, freedom and responsibility within a classic love triangle.
This queer play for a universal audience was written for the stage and was due to open in June 2020 in London’s West End but cancelled due to COVID 19.
RUSH is now set in an online rehearsal room where Rupert Everett, Omari Douglas and Daniel Boyd read the parts of Man, Boy and Lad for the very first time. It was filmed in one continuous take by cameras in the actors’ separate domestic lockdown locations linked by Zoom and subsequently edited together. The actors had not met or rehearsed prior to the filming. What resulted was an immediate and fresh rendition of the script captured with the brittle intimacy of fixed, close-up framing.
RUSH was written by Willi Richards, directed by Joseph Winters, edited by Josh Williams and produced by Roger James Elsgood and Stephen Daldry.