by James Sherrard

The borough’s leading fringe theatre has won an award that celebrates maverick individuals who contribute to British culture.

Bush Theatre picked up the Groucho Club Maverick trophy last week along with a cheque for £10,000.

Judges awarded the theatre for its impressive line of up of shows this year, which has included Bond star Rory Kinnear’s writing debut, The Herd, and American writer Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Artistic director Madani Younis said: “I am humbled by the talent and intellect of the artists who we have worked with this year, and am so proud of the work that we have produced.

“It is fitting that we have won the Maverick Award as we open our new writing festival RADAR 2013, in which we have programmed three weeks of work that refuses to conform, by a generation of artists who are helping us to see the world from another vantage point.”

The Shepherd’s Bush venue beat anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe and artistic director of the English National Ballet Tamara Rojo for the title previously won by Danny Boyle for his awe-inspiring opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Uxbridge Road theatre is seen as a proving ground for young playwrights and reads and responds to more than 1,500 plays a year.

Dotti Irving, chair of the judges for the prize, said: “It’s a pretty maverick decision to give the Groucho Club Maverick to a theatre rather than an individual.

“But of course the prize is not going to a building but to the immensely talented group of playwrights who have, under Younis’ direction, produced a year-round line-up of brilliantly challenging dramas.”

Mr Younis was praised for using theatre to reflect and provoke the community and for the fact that the approach has brought audiences to the theatre in droves.