All of us at Nick Hern Books are sorry to learn that legendary theatre director and NHB author Mike Bradwell has died at the age of 77.

Bradwell founded Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1971, and also served as Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre from 1996 until 2007. We're proud to publish his books The Reluctant Escapologist: Adventures in Alternative Theatre (2010, winner of the Theatre Book Prize) and Inventing the Truth: Devising and Directing for the Theatre (2012), as well as many playwrights whose early work Mike directed and championed.

Here, NHB's founder and Publisher, Nick Hern, pays tribute to a true one-off.

'I first met Mike during his tenure of the ‘old’ Bush Theatre. It inhabited a room above a slightly disreputable pub on Shepherd’s Bush Green – Mike was always at loggerheads with the landlord as loud noise from down below would intrude into the tiny theatre. The programme of new plays he masterminded in that magical space was the best in London. He ‘discovered’ a now impressive number of first-time writers, typically including Jack Thorne, Conor McPherson, Chloë Moss, Mark O’Rowe, Charlotte Jones, Joe Penhall and Catherine Johnson, amongst countless others. Mike had a sure eye.

'He and I used to bump into each other on the Goldhawk Road, which was where NHB had moved its office. On one of these occasions, I casually asked what he was doing, hoping to be told of his next discovery so that I could chase down the author and publish the play, as we already had with a large number of ‘Bush plays’. By way of an answer, Mike fixed me with a challenging stare: ‘I’m writing a book.’ And so, after some combative editing sessions, The Reluctant Escapologist was born. I loved that title! It seemed to distil Mike’s whole being into one resonant phrase.

'The launch was scheduled for the ‘new’ Bush with both Mike, the outgoing artistic director, and Josie Rourke, the new one, speaking from the podium. Except that Mike had gone into one of his truculent moods and was threatening not to come, let alone make a speech. But he was persuaded – and the book went on to win the Theatre Book Prize, which was totally unexpected, given that the award was usually for an aspect of theatre history. But then Mike’s life and career were theatre history – and still are.

'Mike was a great bear of a man who attracted intense loyalty from many of the actors he worked with. Despite his imposing size and unkempt appearance, he was capable of the most delicate work. We shall never see his like again.'