Josette Bushell-Mingo
{{Short description|Swedish-English actress and director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Josette Bushell-Mingo
| honorific_suffix = OBE
| image =
| image_upright =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption = Bushell-Mingo speaking in 2011
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1964|02|16}}
| birth_place = Lewisham, London, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| occupation = Stage actress, theatre director
| years_active = 1989–present
| notable_works =
| spouse = Stefan Karsberg
| children = 2
| awards = OBE, H. M. The King's Medal
| website = {{URL|https://josettebushellmingo.com/}}
}}
Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE (born 16 February 1964) is a Sweden-based English theatre actress and director of African descent, who was born in London and has been living and working in Sweden for many years.{{cite web|url=https://josettebushellmingo.com/about/|title=About|publisher=Josette Bushell-Mingo|date=n.d.|access-date=2021-06-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629041250/https://josettebushellmingo.com/about/|archive-date=2021-06-29}} In February 2021, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama announced she had been appointed as the incoming Principal of the School.{{cite web|url=https://www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment/2021/02/17/josette-bushell-mingo-obe-appointed-principal-of-the-royal-central-school-of-speech-and-drama/|last=Campbell|first=Joel|title=Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE appointed Principal of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama|date=2021-02-17|publisher=The Voice|access-date=2021-06-28}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cssd.ac.uk/news/new-principal-announced|title=Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE appointed Principal of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama|date=2021-02-17|publisher=Royal Central School of Speech and Drama|access-date=2021-06-28}} She is the first person of African descent, the first woman since 1942, and the third woman overall to hold this role. Previously, she served as artistic director for the National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble TystTeater for 13 years before accepting a position as the Head of the theatre department at the Stockholm University of the Arts in 2019.
Background
Josette Bushell-Mingo was born in 1964 in the Lewisham area of London to Guyanese parents – her father was a bus driver, her mother a nurse – and grew up in Plaistow.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/aug/01/theatre2|last=Kellaway|first=Kate|title=Racing Demon|date=2004-08-01|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2021-06-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924200902/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/aug/01/theatre2|archive-date=2015-09-24}} She has three sisters.{{cite web|url=https://krullmag.com/blog/josette-bushell-mingo-a-story-about-blackness-and-kick-ass-theatre/|title=JOSETTE BUSHELL-MINGO – a story about blackness and kick-ass theatre|date=2016|work=Krull Magazine|access-date=2021-06-28}} At 17, she auditioned for and was admitted to Barking College, where she did her A levels in Drama, Theatre Design, and Performing Arts.{{cite web|url=https://www.aoc.co.uk/aoc-gold-awards-2004|title=Barking College - Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE|date=2004|publisher=Association of Colleges|access-date=2021-06-28|archive-date=29 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629052605/https://www.aoc.co.uk/aoc-gold-awards-2004|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2017/josette-bushell-mingo-id-love-to-come-back-and-lead-a-company-or-run-a-building/|last=Smurthwaite|first=Nick|title=CW: Josette Bushnell-Mingo|date=2017-01-26|publisher=The Stage|access-date=2021-06-28}} During her last two weeks at Barking, she received two offers: one from Breton University to pursue a BA in theatre and the other from Kaboodle Theatre Company.{{cite web|url=https://www.franklymydearuk.co.uk/interview-josette-bushell-mingo-talks-nina-a-story-about-me-and-nina-simone/|title=INTERVIEW: JOSETTE BUSHELL-MINGO TALKS NINA – A STORY ABOUT ME AND NINA SIMONE|date=2018-01-25|publisher=Frankly My Dear UK|access-date=2021-06-28}} She chose Kaboodle because "a black girl [was] in it as well". After Kaboodle, she acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.
Career
In 1999, she appeared as Solveig in the Royal Exchange Manchester production of Peer Gynt and she returned in 2005 to play Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra.{{cite web|url=https://alt-africa.com/2017/05/22/2101/|title=Interview: Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE|date=2017|publisher=Alt A Review|access-date=2021-06-28}}{{cite web|url=https://razzmag.com/2018/02/13/review-nina-a-story-about-me-and-nina-simone/|last=Earp|first=Emily|title=Review: Nina – A Story About Me and Nina Simone|date=2018-02-13|publisher=Razz|access-date=2021-06-28}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/feb/28/theatre1|last=Hickling|first=Alfred|title=Push it|date=2005-02-28|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2021-06-28}} Both productions were directed by Braham Murray. She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 1999 for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Rafiki in the London production of The Lion King. She has also worked with Doppleganger Theatre Company, Kiss Theatre Company (Holland), Black Mime, Half Moon Young People's Theatre, Lumiere & Son Theatre Company, and Rainmaker Theatre for the Deaf.{{cite web|url=http://hilarywestlake.com/t_panic/pcprog.pdf|title=Lumiere & Son Theatre Company Presents PANIC|date=1987|publisher=Hilary Westlake|access-date=2021-06-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630013714/http://hilarywestlake.com/t_panic/pcprog.pdf|archive-date=2021-06-30}}
In 2001, she founded the Push Arts Festival with the Young Vic Theatre, an event that aims both to empower Black creators as well as to normalize their presence and leadership within major institutions within the theatre community and beyond. She also served as its artistic director. It was because of her efforts with Push that she was awarded an OBE in 2006.{{cite web|url=https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/news/article/josette-bushell-mingo-appointed-central-s-first-female-principal-since-1942|last=Clifford|first=Harriet|title=Josette Bushell-Mingo appointed Central's first female principal since 1942|date=2021-02-17|publisher=Drama & Theatre|access-date=2021-06-29}} In 2010, she was one of several Afro-Swede actors to found TRYCK, a community for Black actors in Sweden.{{cite web|url=https://parsejournal.com/article/the-grain-of-her-voice/|last=Lundberg|first=Anna|title=The Grain of her Voice: Nina Simone, Josette Bushell-Mingo and the Intersections between Art, Politics and Race|date=2020|publisher=Parse|access-date=2021-06-28}}
In 2016, she wrote and performed Nina - A Story About Me and Nina Simone, a "deeply personal and often searing show inspired by the singer and activist Nina Simone, at the Unity Theatre.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/oct/19/nina-a-story-about-me-and-nina-simone-review-unity-liverpool-josette-bushell-mingo|last=Gardner|first=Lyn|title=Nina review – searing tribute restarts Simone's revolution|date=2016-10-19|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2021-06-29}} The show ran at the Young Vic Theatre in July 2017 before moving to the Traverse Theatre in August.{{cite web|url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/review-nina-young-vic_44193.html|last=Trueman|first=Matt|title=Review: Nina (Young Vic)|date=2017-07-25|publisher=What's On Stage|access-date=2021-06-29}}
From 2005-2018, she was the Artistic Director for the National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble TystTeater.{{cite web|url=https://visionsandvoices.usc.edu/events/listing.php?event_id=%2030460928980835|title=Performance, Politics, and Power: A Workshop with Josette Bushell-Mingo|date=2020-01-17|publisher=University of Southern California|access-date=2021-06-29}} The company's 2008 signed production of The Odyssey received huge critical acclaim in Scandinavia.{{cite web|url=https://www.stratfordeast.com/news/cast-announced-for-european-premiere-of-the-bubbly-black-girl-sheds-her-chameleon-skin|title=Cast announced for European premiere of The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin|date=2016-12-16|publisher=Stratford East|access-date=2021-06-29}}{{cite web|url=http://www.riksteatern.se/templates/PopUp.aspx?id=6634&epslanguage=SV|title=Riksteatern – alltid nära dig!|date=2008-05-16|publisher=Riksteater.se|access-date=2011-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722013320/http://www.riksteatern.se/templates/PopUp.aspx?id=6634&epslanguage=SV|archive-date=2011-07-22}}
After leaving the National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre, she became the Head of Acting at the Stockholm University of the Arts. She is the first woman to hold this position.{{cite web|url=https://whynot.theatre/team-member/josette-bushell-mingo/|title=Josette Bushell-Mingo|date=2021|publisher=Why Not Theatre|access-date=2021-06-29}}
Bushell-Mingo has served as the Chairwoman for CinemAfrica and as a board member for the Swedish Film Institute, Women in Film and Television Sweden, and the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has also given lectures and taught at a number of theatre schools such as London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Coventry University, London College of Fashion, and Malmö Theatre Academy.
Though she primarily works in theatre, Bushell-Mingo has also appeared in the Swedish show Nudlar och 08:or as Martha in 1997 and in a 2015 episode of Bröllop, begravning och dop as Xamina.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7513475/|title=Josette Bushell-Mingo|date=n.d.|publisher=IMDb|access-date=2021-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908134138/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7513475/|archive-date=2019-09-08}} She has also starred in the films Girls & Boys (dir. Ninja Thyberg, 2015); Flickan, mamman och demonerna (dir. Suzanne Osten, 2016). She also headlined as Kandia in Dani Kouyaté's award-winning film While We Live.{{cite web|url=https://www.ama-awards.com/amaa-2017-nomination-list#|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022124322/https://www.ama-awards.com/amaa-2017-nomination-list|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2020|title=AMAA 2017 nomination list announced by president of the AMAA jury for 2017 Mr. Bernie Goldblat on May 14, 2017 at 4pm at the Kigali Convention Centre, Kigali, Rwanda|date=2017|publisher=Africa Movie Academy Awards|access-date=2021-06-29}}
Personal life
Stage credits
=Directing credits=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Company ! scope="col" | Venue |
|---|
| scope="row" | 1989-1990
| The School for Wives (with Kathryn Hunter and Neil Bartlett) | |
| scope="row" | 1991
| Dreamhouse | Aspects Theatre Company |
| scope="row" | 1992-1993
| Trickster's Payback | Black Theatre Co-operative |
| scope="row" | 1993
| Edwina | Aspect Theatre Productions and Barking College |
| scope="row" | 1995
| Aspect Theatre Productions | Brixton Shaw Theatre and Greenwich Theatre |
| scope="row" | 1996
| Fire | | Battersea Arts Centre |
| scope="row" | 1998
| King Lear (co-director: Lee Beagley) | Kaboodle Theatre Company | Teatro Municipal (Almagro) and UK |
| scope="row" | 1998
| The Tango Room | Aspect Theatre Productions | Loughborough Hotel |
| scope="row" | 2004
| Mother Courage and Her Children | New Wolsey Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and Nottingham Playhouse |
| scope="row" | 2004 |
| scope="row" | 2004
| Two Step | PUSH 04 |
| scope="row" | 2007 |
| scope="row" | 2008
| National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre TystTeater | |
| scope="row" | 2008
| Unity Theatre, National Swedish Touring Theatre, and Västerbottensteatern | Västerbottensteatern, Stora Scenen, Unity Theatre, Stadsteatern, Pustervik, Teater 1, Sagateatern (Linköping), Kristianstads Teater, and Bredgatan 3 (Lund) |
| scope="row" | 2008
| People Show, Merseyside Dance Initiative, Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and Hope Street |
| scope="row" | 2009
| Te Whaea |
| scope="row" | 2009-2010 |
| scope="row" | 2010
| GLO | Volcano Theatre |
| scope="row" | 2011
| Royal Swedish Opera and the University College of Opera | Tensta Träff |
| scope="row" | 2011
| The Wiz | Birmingham Repertory Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse | New Alexandra Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse |
| scope="row" | 2011
| Kaboodle Theatre Company |
| scope="row" | 2016 |
| scope="row" | 2017
| The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin |
| scope="row" | 2019
| The National Black Theatre of Sweden | Kulturhuset Stadsteatern (Vällingby) |
| scope="row" | 2019
| Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre |
=Acting credits=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" | Director ! scope="col" | Venue |
|---|
| scope="row" | 1987
| PANIC | | Hilary Westlake |
| scope="row" | 1988
| Under the Moon | | |
| scope="row" | 1990
| | |
| scope="row" | 1990
| The Dramatic Attitudes of Fanny Kemble | An Actress, Psyche | Patrick Sandford |
| scope="row" | 1991-1992
| Antigone | Chorus | Swan Theatre, West End theatre, Barbican Theatre, and Newcastle Playhouse |
| scope="row" | 1991-1992
| Silvia, Lucetta |
| scope="row" | 1991-1992
| Chorus |
| scope="row" | 1991-1992
| Chorus |
| scope="row" | 1991-1992
| Clarinda |
| scope="row" | 1992
| Metropolis Kabarett | Special Guest |
| scope="row" | 1993
| From the Mississippi Delta | |
| scope="row" | 1993
| Juliet | Gwenda Hughes |
| scope="row" | 1994
| | |
| scope="row" | 1995
| Cassandra |
| scope="row" | 1995
| Titania | Karin Beier |
| scope="row" | 1996
| Fire | | Josette Bushell-Mingo |
| scope="row" | 1996
| Everyman | Charlatan Priest, Death, Kindred, Knowledge | Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni |
| scope="row" | 1997
| The Creation | Eve, Japheth's wife, Mother Mary |
| scope="row" | 1997
| The Passion | Adulterous woman, Esther, Mother Mary |
| scope="row" | 1998
| Bathsheba, Eve, Lot's 2nd daughter, Mary, Noah's daughter | The Pit |
| scope="row" | 1998
| Everyman | Charlatan Priest, Death, Kindred, Knowledge | Marcello Magni | Brooklyn Academy of Music Majestic Theater and The Pit |
| scope="row" | 1999
| Solveig |
| scope="row" | 1999
| Rafiki |
| scope="row" | 1999
| Teenage Elvis | |
| scope="row" | 2002
| Hoopoe, Poseidon |
| scope="row" | 2002
| | |
| scope="row" | 2005
| Cleopatra |
| scope="row" | 2011
| Star Spirit |
| scope="row" | 2016
| Nina - A Story About Me and Nina Simone | Josette Bushell-Mingo |
Honours and awards
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20210615224242/https://josettebushellmingo.com/ Official Website]
- [https://theatricalia.com/person/6yh/josette-bushell-mingo Theatricalia profile]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushell-Mingo, Josette}}
Category:English theatre directors
Category:British women theatre directors
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English expatriates in Sweden
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Lewisham
Category:English people of Guyanese descent
Category:Black British actresses
Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Newham