Lynette Linton

Lynette Margaret Linton (born January 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".

Early life and education Linton is of British Caribbean heritage and grew up in Leytonstone, East London. Her father is from Guyana and her mother is from Northern Ireland. Linton became interested in theatre and writing as a child. She has said that she wanted to be Malorie Blackman. The play she wrote – Step – was about a young man working out his sexuality, inspired by James Baldwin. It was programmed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Career In 2014 Linton founded the production company Black Apron Entertainment, which was named after the uniforms worn by her and her colleagues Daniel Bailey and Gino Green at their first jobs in John Lewis. Black Apron Entertainment have produced several plays and short films, including Passages: A Windrush Celebration at the Royal Court Theatre. Passages included seven monologue films that were written in response to the Windrush scandal.

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. 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." Her first season as artistic director started with a revival of Jackie Kay's Chiaroscuro and several other works by British writers of colour. Linton stepped down from her role at Bush Theatre in spring 2026, succeeded by Taio Lawson.

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. Linton also featured on the Evening Standard list of "London women changing the world" for International Women's Day 2022.

Theatrical works Writing Linton has written for Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Arcola Theatre, among other theatres.

2013: Step 2015: 'Chicken Palace

Directing 2014: This Wide Night at Albany Theatre 2022: Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National Theatre 2022: House of Ife at the Bush Theatre 2023: Clydes at the Donmar Warehouse 2024: Shifters at the Bush Theatre (also West End Transfer Duke of York) 2024: Barcelona at Duke of York 2025: Alterations at the National Theatre 2025: Intimate Apparel at the Donmar Warehouse 2026: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind at the Royal Shakespeare Company