Every August, The Camden Fringe provides an alternative to The Edinburgh Fringe. Based in London, Camden Fringe is an opportunity for artists to showcase work at every stage of development. From rehearsed readings all the way through to complete productions, The Camden Fringe is a fantastically diverse and exciting alternative to Edinburgh Fringe.
We’ve compiled a list of six fantastic shows featuring OSD Graduates that are all must watch events.
OSD at The Camden Fringe 2024
Blood Bath
Starring 2023 One Year Graduate Maire McGovern as Rasalka.
Show Bio – “Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke – A Siren, a Selkie, and a Rusalka walk into a bathroom.”
Three women are looking for an escape. Instead, they find each other. But these aren’t ordinary women. And this isn’t ordinary song. As their walls come down and the dangers outside start to bleed in, they must ask themselves – how far can you trust those around you when you’ve spent lifetimes fighting to keep your head above water?
BLOOD BATH is an exciting female-led dark comedy written by Frances Eva, Molly Goetzee, and Emily Walling that reimagines the stories of mythical sea beings for the modern day, with a seductive dash of live music on top. It is a hilarious and fiendish tale of female friendship and rage.
When – 8:30pm, 29th – 31st July
Where – Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Booking Link – https://camdenfringe.com/events/blood-bath/
Our Brothers in Cloth
Starring 2023 One Year Graduate Oli Fyne and 2022 Three Year Graduate Jake Douglas.
Show Bio – Bunderr, rural Ireland, 1995.
When a young man takes his own life (the second in almost a year), his brother, Alan, comes to realise the connection between his brother’s suicide and the one before it; they both served as altar boys for the local church.
This brings Alan to start looking into the possibility that his brother’s death wasn’t merely caused by feelings of depression alone, but may have something to do with the previous parish priest…
When – 6pm, 5th – 7th August
Where – The Cockpit
Booking Link – https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/our_brothers_in_cloth
The Martyrs
A rehearsed reading of a new play in development, written by and Starring Three Year Graduates Joseph Samimi (2019) and Nojan Khazai (2022). Starring alongside Joseph and Nojan is 2019 Three Year Graduate Reece Webster.
Show Bio – Ali & Abbas are childhood friends and veterans of the Iran-Iraq war.
Now working as hitmen for the Iranian government they travel the world taking out enemies of the Ayatollah.
When a mission to London goes terribly wrong their allegiances are tested as they come face to face with Leyla; a British-Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist on a quest to bring down the regime that killed her family.
Set in the late 90’s and inspired by the ongoing “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement the Martyrs is a darkly comic British-Iranian thriller about tyranny, activism and Persian Discotheques.
When – 7pm, 5th – 6th August
Where – Theatro Technis
Booking Link – https://camdenfringe.com/events/the-martyrs/
Love and Information
Starring 15 of our Three Year Course Graduates, including Directors Rebecca-Jo Roberts and Daniel Metcalfe.
Show Bio – Romance is virtual. Memories are trapped in the walls. Violence is only a stone’s throw away. In the age of artificiality, connection feels as near as it is far.
How do we settle for the little we know and commit to the love we have?
How do we find meaning in our information obsessed society?
And who put that hedgehog in the microwave?
This is an intimate and exciting new revival of Caryl Churchill’s kaleidoscopic modern classic, featuring over 30 scenes with more than 60 different characters.
It was first staged at The Oxford School of Drama with a company of third year acting students who have reassembled to bring this poignant show to The Cockpit Theatre at The Camden Fringe 2024.
Directed by Rebecca-Jo Roberts and Daniel Metcalfe and produced by Out of Pocket, a brand new theatre company.
When – 7pm/2pm, 10th – 11th August
Where – The Cockpit
Booking Link – https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/love_and_information_by_caryl_churchill
Bigmouth
Starring 2022 Foundation Course Graduate Molly Meleady-Hanley.
Show Bio – “Any boy, in any working class family will be stripped of any feminine innocence or beauty before he can be allowed to walk to school for fear of public humiliation. A boy must grow more grotesque, harsh faced, stiff lipped and constantly hard-cocked by the time he reaches 14. And there he goes, plunging away, fucking as many foolish women as he can. Until he gets one of them in trouble, and they settle for a life of misery, in which his woman will become resentful of him, as he comes home late, full of hate. Overworked and overfed, until he has an extremely convenient heart attack and dies on the bathroom floor aged just 45, finally leaving his family in peace.. and why… ? Class.”
A family of three move from Manchester to a council estate in London. It follows the family as they fight against a struggle of homophobia, drug addiction and knife crime in a forgotten corner of England. This production of ‘Bigmouth’ tackles heavy subjects as we explore London’s poverty stricken youth.
When – 7pm, 13th – 15th August
Where – The Courtyard Theatre
Booking Link – https://camdenfringe.com/events/bigmouth/
The Cosby Satires
Starring 2023 One Year Graduate Amaka Whitney as Virtue H, Ms. Butcher and Casey Cucumber.
Show Bio – Pink Cactus Collective, LTD proudly presents THE COSBY SATIRES, a daring collection of one-act plays penned by American playwright, poet, activist, and actress Dr. Shernā Ann Phillips, under the direction of London-based American actor and director Kyle Jackson. Making their international debut, these satirical vignettes cleverly parody “The Cosby Show” and its spinoff “A Different World,” while championing powerful messages about consent and choice, alongside a celebration of Black American HBCU culture.
In PUDDING, high school senior Thaddeus “Pudding” H is a closeted virgin who desperately wants to have sex. When his family confronts his lack of understanding regarding consent, they challenge his beliefs through provocative role play.
In VIRTUE IN A DIFFERENT WORLD, amidst the chaos of Homecoming Weekend at Hilltop College, college sophomore Virtue H grapples with step practice, college life, and the complexities of a woman’s right to choose.
When – 2:30pm, 13th – 18th August
Where – The Libra
Booking Link – https://camdenfringe.com/events/the-cosby-satires/
Established in 2006, The Camden Fringe continues to champion early-career artists by providing an alternative to The Edinburgh Fringe.
If you’re in London at all across August we strongly recommend you check out what’s on! Supporting Fringe festivals is vitally important for continuing to improve diversity in the arts sector. With much-loved and highly respected festivals such as Vault Festival sadly unable to continue producing, we have to show up for the Fringe festivals that are still going strong.
If you’re performing at the Camden Fringe, OSD Alumni or otherwise, break a leg!
