Ross Howard’s six short plays are set in worlds that are burlesques on absurdism. Relationships don’t so much fail to work as unnervingly malfunction.
More new writing at Camden Fringe: Scenic Reality & Angel
One thing I’m really loving about the Camden Fringe is the breadth of creativity and experimentation. Scenic Reality is a prime example of a fresh piece of new writing that explores different storytelling techniques.
‘Michael Morpurgo’s story spoke to me about music’s power to save lives’: Olivia Wormald on making her debut in The Mozart Question
Recent Mountview graduate Olivia Wormald makes her professional debut this month in a regendered stage adaptation of The Mozart Question, Michael Morpurgo’s 2007 children’s book which she herself read as a child. We talked to her about inspiration and how music can save lives. Time to get booking!
‘Denzil Barnes is magnificent’: RED PETER – Etcetera Theatre
suspect this show will have a future, evolving life, and it is well worth checking out if it appears on your radar. I’d certainly be interested in seeing what they do with it next.
‘Weirdly joyful in a terrible, unnerving, end of Britain kind of way’: BORIS REX – Tristan Bates Theatre
Full disclosure, I was not excited about seeing a show about Boris Johnson. Frankly I’m feeling a tad Boris-ed out these days, but fortunately, given a lively and plentiful audience, not everyone seems to be turned off by the subject matter.
‘Larry the barber was a massive influence’: Fiona Spreadborough tells us about the unlikely inspirations behind Adventures of a Trip Advisor Seaside Guest House Keeper
From Stoke Newington via Portugal, Fiona Spreadborough’s one-woman comedy Adventures of a Trip Advisor Seaside Guest House Keeper has enjoyed a circuitous route to the Camden Fringe. Find out more in our interview with the writer and performer, then book your tickets!
Doubling up at Camden Fringe: When It Happens & Class at Tristan Bates
This year I have the great privilege of getting to cover lots of the Camden Fringe shows, my only regret is that I can’t see them all (literally impossible, so many shows running, Londoners check it out, it is a treasure trove of varied goodies).
CAMDEN FRINGE NEWS: Carly Jurman brings America’s sweetheart to the Etcetera Theatre in Unlovable
One-woman clowning tale of love, dating and feminism, Unlovable, a hit at Brighton Fringe earlier this year, comes to London’s Etcetera Theatre for the final week of the Camden Fringe. Book your tickets now!
‘Like many others, I had not heard of Dora Maar before’: Antonia Georgieva on her new play about Picasso’s MUSE
Why have so few of us heard of Dora Maar, the French artist who was also the muse of Pablo Picasso? We talked to writer and director Antonia Georgieva about the need to “re-tell and re-member” the stories of women from the past, which she’s doing with Aslant Theatre Company and its debut play. Time to get booking!
‘Jazz-swing is a lovely, friendly style’: Greg Mosse on his collaboration with John Gleadall on Separate Ways
Since meeting in Chichester in 2015, Greg Mosse and John Gleadall have been busy writing a string of musical shows, including jazz-swing cabaret Separate Ways, which they’re now staging at Theatro Technis from 21 to 24 August 2019 during Camden Fringe. Mosse told us about the key to their collaboration. Time to get booking!
‘I saw Victoria Wood on TV doing funny songs & thought, I can do that’: Celia Delaney on her new solo show at Camden Fringe
Could there be a more perfect venue for solo show Celia Delaney is… Angelic? than the aptly named Angel Comedy Club? The fact that Victoria Wood, who inspired Delaney as a child, is on the mural there makes it even more heavenly. We caught up with this multi-talented performer ahead of her Camden Fringe debut.
‘Gender inequality is alive and well, on every level, all over the world’: Zoë Guzy-Sprague, Caley Powell & Marta da Silva tell us about The Net
‘The work we do in times of crisis as healers, storytellers and carers is lost because for years this work has never been associated with strength and power.’ Camden Fringe drama The Net explores four women on opposite sides of a divide but caught in the centre of a war. The play’s writer Zoë Guzy-Sprague and producers Caley Powell & Marta da Silva told us about its inspiration, the importance of an all-female team and more.
‘We met while singing in a gospel choir’: Writer & co-star Wanja Sellers on how Lost Keys & Orgasms came about
Italian-American actors Alessandro Gruttadauria and Wanja Sellers wanted to perform a two-hander together. How did the London International Gospel Choir, a trip to Cornwall and the humble pasty feed into their Camden Fringe collaboration? We talked to Sellers about Lost Keys and Orgasms at the Pasty Motel. Time to get booking!
PHOTOS: Experience Alpha Who?’s ‘painting in movement’ live at Camden Fringe
A central feature of Matt Franco’s solo piece Alpha Who? is panoramic scenography that responds to the performer. Learn more about this how this “painting in movement” is created, check out our gallery of stunning photos – and then experience it live at Camden Fringe, where the production runs at the Cockpit Theatre from 7 to 9 August only. Time to get booking!
‘Camden has a reputation for introducing great work to the world’: Gary Phillpott on bringing Agent 14 to Camden Fringe
“The size of Camden Fringe festival allows creatives and performers to concentrate on their art rather than suffering the slings and arrows of Edinburgh’s outrageous misfortunes.” Off The Fence Theatre’s Artistic Director tells us what inspired spy comedy Agent 14 and why he is excited to to bring it to Camden Fringe. Book your tickets now!
CAMDEN FRINGE NEWS: Dark comedy Adventures of a Trip Advisor Seaside Guest House Keeper comes to Water Rats
Fiona Spreadborough will bring her one-woman comedy show, set in coastal Portugal, Adventures of a Trip Advisor Seaside Guest House Keeper to the Water Rats later this month. Time to book your tickets!
CAMDEN FRINGE NEWS: Michael Morpurgo’s The Mozart Question is re-gendered at Upstairs at the Gatehouse
The Mozart Question, a virtuosic monologue based on former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo’s 2007 children’s book, comes to Camden Fringe in a regendered production, running from 13 to 18 August 2019 at Highgate’s Upstairs at the Gatehouse. Time to get booking!
‘It is really London’s Fringe Festival’: Christian Sokolov on bringing Our Walk Through the World to Camden Fringe
It’s Fespian Init Productions makes its debut at Camden Fringe with a brand-new production of Our Walk Through the World, Ross Howard’s collection of six short plays, running 11 to 14 August 2019 at The Water Rats. We caught up with multi-tasking company founder Christian Sokolov. Time to get booking!
‘People should be able to see all of society reflected in the theatre’: JB Pichelski & Samantha Wright tell us about Scenic Reality
“The question shouldn’t be so much, ‘Why should Damien be non-binary?’ as ‘Why shouldn’t they be?’” JB Pichelski’s Camden Fringe show Scenic Reality is a coming-of-age tale of mental health and finding your place in the world whose central character just happens to be non-binary. Read what the playwright, and director Samantha Wright told us about the play, then book your tickets!
BEHIND THE SCENES: Take a peek into rehearsals for the darkly comic My Name is Cathy
Teddies, wine and microwave meals – the rehearsal images for My Name is Cathy paint a picture of trying to comfort yourself, which is unsurprising given the play follows a teacher looking back at when everything went wrong. Book your tickets now.