Lynette Linton (born 1990) is a Bafta-nominated British playwright, director, dramaturg and the artistic director at The Bush Theatre. She directed the award-winning Donmar Warehouse production of Sweat. In 2019 she was named as one of Marie Claires "Future Shapers".
In 2016, she was appointed as assistant director at the Gate Theatre. Linton directed Lynn Nottage's play Sweat at the Donmar Warehouse in 2018. The success of the production, which starred Clare Perkins, Martha Plimpton, Osy Ikhile and Parick Gibson, resulted in it transferring to the Gielgud Theatre in 2019. It was awarded the 2019 Evening Standard "Play of the Year" award. Her production of Richard II was the first ever all women of colour company performing a Shakespeare play on a UK stage.
In 2019 it was announced that Linton would become the artistic director of The Bush Theatre. Her appointment has been celebrated by the UK theatrical community, which is dominated by white men. When asked about the reason she applied for the job, she quoted James Baldwin, "The place in which I'll fit will not exist until I make it." She hopes to make the theatre more welcoming to traditionally minoritized groups, including people of colour and those from working-class backgrounds. Her first season as artistic director started with a revival of Jackie Kay's Chiaroscuro and several other works by British writers of colour. The Evening Standard remarked that in terms of "sheer emotional power", nothing came close to Linton's Chiaroscuro.
She was selected as one of the Marie Claire "Future Shapers" in 2019. She was named as one of London's most influential people in the Evening Standards Progress List.
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