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With Camden Fringe in impressive full-flight mode at the moment, I’ve been speaking to more of the performers for an insight into their shows - and what motivates them to get up on stage in the first place.

In the current challenging climate, it might been seen as impossibly foolhardy to try and make it work as a stand-up or an actor, yet the required drive and zeal for the stage remains totally undimmed by hundreds of plucky souls currently treading the boards in over 450 Fringe shows.

Getting there requires the spinning of multiple plates just to get the bills paid, but nobody said it was going to be easy, and ‘the struggle’ is all part of the creative journey, right?

First up, I chatted to comedian, BBC Radio 4 and Have I News for You writer, poet and tour guide Suchandrika Chakrabarti about her latest Fringe escapades for this week’s Guest Editor slot.

Then I headed over to The Courtyard Theatre, to see the quirky, brilliantly enjoyable Swedish Furniture Store - The Musical, where I caught up with one of the cast, Alecs Simone, afterwards.

He gives a candid insight into what it takes to make it as a young Italian-born actor in London right now, based on determination and grit in the face of Brexit, Covid and all the rest of it.

Guest Editor: Suchandrika Chakrabarti

“I performed at my first Camden Fringe back in 2021, with a show called ‘I Miss Amy Winehouse’. 

I’d spent a lot of my youth in Camden, working as a journalist at the Associated Press based in Camden Market, and I went out all the time, often ending up in the legendary back room at the Marathon kebab house.

I’d find myself there at four in the morning watching incredible guitarists, singers and other musicians playing. I was a huge Winehouse fan, and Amy was known to turn up there too, but I never met her. So the joke in the show was that everyone I know had met her and had some story about her - except me.

The following year I took it up to Edinburgh Fringe, then returned to Camden with a new show; ‘Doomscrolling’ [covered at the time in this Camdenist feature].

That show lost its bite in many ways with the end of the last Tory government. Partly that’s because its fun to go hard on any right-wing parties as they are full of characters that want power, as opposed to wanting to actually govern. That’s Nige Farage in a nutshell.

I had a great character called Cruella Braverman, who was so much fun to do, and for once in standup, being an Asian lady worked perfectly. But you just don’t have characters like that in the Labour government, because their job is to do something very different.

So this year I've got a new show called Mona Lisa: You've Been Framed.

I didn't want to write a script this time and just see what I could do with visuals, with slapstick and physical comedy.

It's ridiculous! It kind of has a structure to it as a sort of art heist movie, improvised by me… and possibly some of the audience (but don’t worry, although I get the audience to participate, it’s very safe – if anyone looks like a fool, it’s going to be me).

I found what is essentially a giant pillow case on Temu, which is a full Mona Lisa outfit where I’m just putting my face where hers should be - and I don’t have an enigmatic smile. I wanted to get people laughing just by turning up on stage.

Basically, Mona Lisa has escaped from The Louvre, she’s 500 years old and she needs modern life explained to her. She learns about the looted artefacts at the British Museum (like the Rosetta Stone), which makes her furious, and she’s not even heard about the Kardashians yet…

But of course, none of this stuff pays, it turns out, and I don’t know if you heard, but London is quite expensive. So, I’ve been doing open top bus tour guiding and walking tours, too.

It’s not the same as standup, but because people are on holiday, they don’t want two hours of facts - they want to feel something. That’s usually laughter, and fun, and then they leave remembering how you made them feel.

And it has something in common with comedy in that if they laugh or not, you respond to that; give ‘um a bit more. As you have constantly moving scenery, you know what’s coming next but they don’t, so it’s about setting the scene and preempting that.

Coming from journalism and writing, you tend to get jobs at your laptop, pitching, writing and so on, so for the sake of my lower back, it’s good to get out. I think it helps the cogs go round creatively, too.”

See the full IG Live conversation with Suchandrika on @Camdenist Instagram, where you can hear more about her poetry writing, the crazy pace of writing about the news cycle and lots more (you’ll just have to forward through the usual technical adjustment nightmares at the start, which can’t be edited out!).

3 More Fringe Features

Chasing your dreams in performing arts is hard, but it’s even more tough when you’re applying from Italy after Brexit, during Covid and a cost of living maelstrom.

We caught up with actor and singer, Alecs Simone, hot off the back of his Camden Fringe debut last week, to hear how he’s managed to navigate the challenges, and what drives him to want to succeed in films, on stage and beyond.

Read the full feature interview with Alecs here for a fascinating insight into what it takes to work your way up in the industry today.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS

🖤 Our featured interview last week was with Joy Nesbitt, writer and director of Scenes With Black Folk, her new play exploring the everyday experiences of Blackness. From identity and pride, to racism, the long shadows of history and the absurdity of today’s rules around what it means to be Black as viewed under the white gaze. It’s at Camden People’s Theatre 19th - 22nd Aug.

🎡 We’ve previously covered improvised comedy group Insert Laughter Here’s long form improv format, Spin-a-Play on Camdenist, and it’s happily back for 2025 with two performances at The Museum of Comedy this Sat 16 Aug 4pm & 7pm, where the audience will be invited to suggest genres and shape the action in a "brand new" play made up on the spot by the performers.

FESTIVALS

Coldplay take over King’s Cross + WIN tickets to HowTheLightGetsIn

💥From their humble local ‘toilet circuit’ gig beginnings and unassuming Gospel Oak studio base, to the latest global tour landing with a 10-night sellout Wembley Stadium residency which kicks off next Friday, the Coldplay story is undeniably a stratospheric one.

And with that level of success comes the ability to do further things of impressive scale, which leads us to the band’s official King’s Cross takeover, running 21st Aug - 8th Sept.

It includes the return of A Film For The Future to Lewis Cubitt Square’s Lightroom, (which I reviewed back in January) mashing up the work of 150 different artists from 45 countries to illustrate a fully immersive take on their Moon Music LP.

Then also look out for the Lightroom cafe and surrounding area to become a gallery of photography by Anna Lee, who trailed the band around the word to snap them preforming 130 different shows.

She’ll be speaking about the experience at a special screening and conversation event on Tues Sept 2nd, while the film’s producer, Sam Seager, will discuss the production of the unique 360 degree film in conversation on Thurs 21st Aug.

And if you’re not one of the thousands going to Wembley, you can still pick up official merch at the Lightroom store, too, as Coldplay look set to give Oasis a run for their money in terms of city-wide musical/sartorial domination over the coming days.

Thank you!

As a regular Camdenist reader, your attention is never taken for granted.

Particular thanks also to our new paying subscribers. Upgrading (by the equivalent of less than half a cup coffee per week) massively helps keep this show on the road.

If you’ve considered going Premium but haven’t done so yet, perhaps this month is a good one to start? We’ve got more truly special guest editors in the pipeline, and some tasty events to invite you to. Plus, you’d really make my day, too. 😊

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