Camden Fringe Press Release & Listings

Overview of this years Camden Fringe
 
So far the Camden Fringe is made up of 494 performances of 145 different shows from all sorts of performance disciplines. These will be Camden, from Highgate to Bloomsbury. More shows are being added so we hope to make it a round 500 performances before the end of August.

Theatre

As ever, the Camden Fringe, provides a diverse range of theatre shows - from the musicals and devised one person plays to classic pieces and Story telling.
 
What British festival would be complete without a good dose of Shakespeare?
This year we will mostly be doing Macbeth. In fact Thursday 11th and Friday 12th are Macbeth days - with 3 performances based on the Scottish play occuring at the same time. Hireath Theatre Company  are doing an edited version of the original Macbeth text at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, whilstone woman show Out, Damned Spot at the Etcetra concentrates on the story and motivations of Lady M. Killing Swine at Theatro Technis is a devised piece by a group of drama student about a group of students staging a production of Macbeth. Their own stories and characters end up becoming entwined with those of Shakespeare's originals.
 
The Observatory has, like Killing Swine, been devised by students - this time from Camden's own Central School of Speech and Drama. It takes as its starting point the story of Annie Jump Cannon – a partially deaf astronomer who, in early 1900’s was a pioneer of star studies and classification. The show takes place at the Pirate Castle. On a similarly cosmological theme Helen and The Space Rocket at the Etcetera follows the symbiotic story of one woman and the Voyager space probe.

Women are also at the forefront in Swifter, Higher, Stronger by Abi Zakarian at Camden People’s Theatre, which tells the stories of some of the part in the London Olympics of 1908, 1948 and 2012.
 
Also loosely based on historical events Are Your Lonesome Tonight? is set in the summer of 1977, when a couple try to revive their ailing marriage by following Elvis Presley on all 12 dates of his tour.

A tour that proved one squirrel sandwich and a toilet too far for the performer, leaving the couple stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do...
The performance at the Etcetera coincide with the 34th anniversary of Elvis's death on the 16th August.
 
Rock WILK, a New York City performance artist recently embarked on a renegade and highly successful US tour of his one man play internationally for the first time at Sheephaven Bay as part of the Camden Fringe. His story is about the quest to find his biological mother and his struggles with his own identity.
 
There have been a few late additions to the programme in the theatre department, which are not included in the brochure. These include:

Little Bear – a promenade piece taking place at St Martin's Garden, just behind Camden High Street
Peter - a story about family the backdrop of the liberation of Iraq at the Shaw Theatre
Hope - a one man show about a lone character who is involved in a very peculiar love-triangle also at the Shaw Theatre and the New Diorama.

There are a few more shows in the pipeline- so keep an eye on our website for more information. http://camdenfringe.com/

Dance

We’ve got a handful of dance pieces sashaying into the festival.
 
Love Last Lost at the Shaw Theatre is a physical exploration of human trafficking and the exploitation of people in all forms - including slavery, organ trafficking and sexual abuse.
 
Insights is a choreographic platform, created for the 2011 Camden Fringe by Jai Hutchison, which will showcase the work of 8 UK based choreographers and collaborators from around the globe at RADA’s GBS Theatre.
 
Based on The Cenci by Antonin Artaud, Beings is devised and performed by In  Between Butoh company, who were last seen on the Camden Fringe in 2009 with Down-a. This year they'll somehow be squeezing into the Sheephaven Bay.

Comedy

A not very scientific survey of the comedy on offer at the Camden Fringe reveals that just under one third of the shows are performed by mixed gender sketch shows, comedy acts starring women in just about outnumber the all-male performances.  
 
As the Camden Fringe is run by a female double act it seems only appropriate that there plenty of them on the bill: Red All Over  Cream, Leads & Stern, Morris & Vyse, Strawberry & Cream, The Spring Chix, Checkley Bush, Gavin & Gavin and, not forgetting the especially  reunited Adams & Rea, will all putting in appearances at the Camden Fringe.
 
On a stand-up tip Scott Capurro, Matt Kirshen, Helen Keen, Amadeus Martin, James Mullinger, Adrian Poynton (fresh from the success of his sit-com White Van Man) Hal Cruttenden and Iszi Lawrence Restuccia, Bec Hill and Craig Murray.
 
Becoming a traditional highlight of the Camden Fringe is The Trap's appearance over the last week. But will they be able to top last year’s Bad Musical, which transferred to the Soho Theatre? This year they’ll be celebrating 10 years of performing together with an all new sketch show.
 
Some of the more unusual shows include:

The 90’s In Half An Hour in which Marc Borrows attempts to relive the entire decade in 30 minutes. With Take That and Pulp currently touring, we are apparently now all old enough to feel nostalgic about the 90's.

I shall be reliving my glory days at ALL of these things.

Bronagh’s Big Weekend - a one woman show about a 13 year old girl who becomes a teenager, a bridesmaid and an Irish Dancing Championships competitor in one weekend. It will contain actual Irish dancing from performer Helen O’Brien (we hear she’s pretty good.)

The 7 Detestable Sinz a sketch show about the 7 sins listed in the bible (apparently they are different from the 7 deadly sins we all know and love. The show is by Stepping Stonez, a multi cultural arts production company working with young people from ages 14-25, who encourages young people to invest their creativity into the arts, specifically theatre, music, dance and film.

Opera & Musicals

Yep, there is some of these as well Obviously there are far too many shows to mention here, but please have a look through the brochure and see if anything catches your eye. Individual press releases and image can be downloaded from the press page on www.camdenfringe.org
 
For more information on the Camden Theatre: 020 7482 4857, press@camdenfringe.org.

Camden Fringe Theatre Listings

http://www.camdennewjournal.com/camden-fringe-2011-theatre-listings

Camden Fringe Comedy Listings

http://www.camdennewjournal.com/camden-fringe-2011-comedy-listings