Marlene Sidaway, who played Maureen in acclaimed sitcom Mum, stars on stage this summer, starring in Penelope Rawlins’ new play Pigeons at the Hen and Chickens Theatre. Book your tickets now
‘It’s a great opportunity to try something new’: Festival co-founder Michelle Flower on 14 years of Camden Fringe
It was fourteen years ago that Michelle Flower and Zena Barrie launched the Camden Fringe festival as a summer filler at the Etcetera Theatre in London NW1. Fourteen years later, London’s annual alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe spans 300+ shows across 30 venues. We caught up with Flower to hear more. How many shows can you pack in? Time to get booking!
NEWS: 14th annual Camden Fringe runs 29 Jul-25 Aug with over 300 shows
What’s with the pigeon? Camden Fringe’s famous avian mascot this year pays tribute to British actor Olivia Colman for her Oscar-winning turn in the film The Favourite. The full programme for the 2019 festival features over 300 shows running across 30 different London venues between 29 July and 25 August 2019. How many can you squeeze in? Time to get booking!
‘Leaves you with plenty to consider’: Audiences share their love for Loop on Twitter
“Brilliant”, “Moving and engaging”, “Ingenius” – audiences of Tiny Room’s drama Loop have taken to Twitter to sing the praises of Peter Mulligan’s drama about a barman considering his life. We’ve rounded up some of the best tweets
WATCH: Check out the cinematic new trailer for male mental health drama Loop
Pub theatre, The Lion and Unicorn, kicks of 2019 with, appropriately enough, drama about a barman, Loop. But for this pub worker, life has become a constant, repetitive source of depression. Take a look at the trailer created by theatre company Tiny Room
‘I found connections with what I was writing & my own mental health’: Playwright Peter Mulligan shares his personal connection with suicide drama, Loop
Peter Mulligan wrote Loop in reaction to his own experiences of working in a bar, coping with depression and considering taking his own life. Here he tell us more about this time in his creative life and how the piece has grown since its Camden Fringe premiere.
PHOTOS: Peek inside the pub as new drama Loop releases production images
Many of us will recognise the inside of a pub, especially during the festive season… but how does the boozer at the centre of Peter Mulligan’s Loop look and what’s going on in his bar-set drama? Find out with a look at our new production shots gallery.
NEWS: Tiny Room brings new version of depression drama Loop to London at the Lion And Unicorn Theatre
Following sell-out runs in the Camden Fringe and at the Brewdog in Leicester, Tiny Room returns to London in January with an extended version of Loop. This updating of Peter Mulligan’s play, which runs t the Lion And Unicorn Theatre from 7-20 January 2019, delves into the relationships of the characters that frequent a pub.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Kyla Morris on her play O.L.D Online Dating at the Camden Fringe
Love London Love Culture’s Emma Clarendon spoke to Kyla Morris about her play O.L.D Online Dating playing as part of the Camden Fringe on 25 and 26 August 2018.
‘An engaging & gripping story of a heart-warming friendship’: SPIDERS – Tristan Bates Theatre ★★★
Love London Love Culture’s Kirsty Herrington reviews Spiders playing at the Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe.
‘Three years ago I was raped by my friend’: Victoria Cano on how she was forced to write debut play Pomegranate Season
As part of our Camden Fringe Featured Shows, we’re counting down to the #MeToo premiere of Pomegranate Season, running at London’s Cockpit Theatre from 20 to 22 August 2018. In our interview, author-actor-activist Victoria Cano tells us about the real-life rape that ‘forced’ her debut play out of her, why London is better than New York and how travelling restores her faith in humanity. Time to get booking!
‘Laugh-out-loud funny, at times unashamedly filthy’: GETTING OVER EVEREST – Tristan Bates Theatre
Getting over a break-up is never easy. But when you’ve spent ten years – a third of your life – building a future with the man who’s just unceremoniously dumped you, recovery can feel like an impossible task.
‘Warm-hearted, affectionate & (occasionally) awkward’: GETTING OVER EVEREST – Tristan Bates Theatre ★★★
While the play offers a bit of comfort for those struggling to move forward in their life in a warmly affectionate way, Getting over Everest seems to run out of things to say towards the end.
WATCH: Devised social injustice comedy Square premieres at Camden Fringe this weekend
Our Camden Fringe Featured Show series continues with Square, a surreal, dark and violent comedy with political undertones, which runs this weekend at the Cockpit Theatre. This new piece, devised by Tale to Be Told Theatre and based on personal experiences, offers a surreal take on a system that punishes those who don’t conform. Watch the ominous trailer below – and get booking!
‘There is an unbelievable crisis in Venezuela, but still we are making theatre’: Interview with award-winning playwright Gustavo Ott, who makes his UK debut with Your Molotov Kisses
How is the deepening crisis in Venezuela affecting theatremakers there? Award-winning playwright Gustavo Ott, who gets his overdue UK debut this month with a new production of 2002 play Your Molotov Kisses, discusses that and how his five years living in London as a young immigrant – working as a theatre usher, meeting Harold Pinter, flat-sharing with ETA separatists – shaped him and his art.
‘Computer games are about choice – like Hamlet’: WATCH Ed Day on Super Hamlet 64 & transgender misconceptions
Did they even have videogames in Shakespeare’s time?! Watch our video interview with Edward/Edalia Day answering big questions about life and art (seriously… but in a fun way), as we count down to the Camden Fringe opening of Super Hamlet 64.
‘Women paid the highest price’: Christina Tranholm on the true wartime events that inspired The German Girls
As rehearsals continue for The German Girls in preparation for its Camden Fringe debut, we spoke to London-based Danish writer and actress Christina Tranholm about sharing the hidden stories of Danish women who fell in love with German soldiers during the Second World War – and how relevant it still is today.
NEWS: John Atterbury stars in new farce Seeds of Change, set in a sperm bank, at Camden Fringe
The latest offering in our Camden Fringe Featured Show is Samuel John and Mark Hayden’s Seeds of Change, premiering this week at London’s Lion & Unicorn Theatre, where it runs from 9 to 12 August 2018. This anarchic comedy, launching new company Farce a Minute, is set in a sperm bank (!) and features stage and screen veteran John Atterbury.
When ‘just cheer up’ is like ‘just being on the moon’: Kim Scopes on happiness, puppetry, Jim Broadbent & her new play BLUE
As BLUE prepares for its premiere at London’s Camden Fringe, we talk to writer and performer Kim Scopes. Created with director Holli Dillon by their new theatre company the Sycorax Collective, the one-woman abstract fairy tale runs 15 to 19 August 2018 at Etcetera Theatre. Read our interview below to find out why there’s a woman stuck on the moon and what Jim Broadbent once gave her for Christmas… and then get booking!
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Rebecca Vaa & Billie Collins are bringing Spiders to the Tristan Bates Theatre
Director Rebecca Vaa and writer Billie Collins spoke to Love London Love Culture about bringing Spiders to the Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe.