It is August which only means one thing – it is Camden Fringe time! Over the next few weeks we are chatting to acts that are performing at the festival and finding all about their show and what they would call this years iconic Camden Fringe Pigeon! Today we speak to Stephen G. Titley about The Church Of The Fall.

Date: 1st August
Time: 7:15pm
Price: £8 Concessions £5
Location: Camden People’s Theatre
Ticket Link: https://camden.ssboxoffice.com/events/the-church-of-the-fall/

Hello! Tell us about yourself ? 

Hello, I’m Stephen G. Titley. I trade as, in what they call in showbiz, a quintuple threat  – writer, standup, actor, singer and (Dad) dancer.

How did you come up with the name of your show that your taking to the Camden fringe?

My show is this soul’s celebration of the work of the late writer, musician and working-class genius, Salford’s Mark E. Smith and his group The Fall. Fall fandom has often been dismissed as the ‘cult of The Fall’ but this music is too divine to belong to a cult! The Fall should be a broad church! And so ‘come one, come all, to the CHURCH of The Fall’. (FREE PINT AND FREE ENTRY FOR EX-FALL MEMBERS).

Tell us a little bit about your style of show?

It’s about fifty-five minutes of story-telling, jokes, songs and a couple of poignant moments (obvs). My dead Dad does pop up in the narrative, as with a number of longform shows with comedians behind them but in my defence, it’s necessary for the narrative (dahling!!) and he was not just a top man but a top music-lover too. You don’t have to love the Fall (but WHY wouldn’t you?) to enjoy my show, you just have to love music.

What will your set be about?

It’s a personal muscial journey, NAY an odyssey! Before converting to atheism at 21, I was a practising Christian. The Church of The Fall was born out of my need to still believe in something greater than all of us. And the greatest of these things is, of course, Mark E. Smith’s group, The Fall.  Come with me on my journey of laughter, love (and some tears) from Fall neophyte to Fall disciple, with a new-found joy in the gift of music as a whole.

Have you done the fringe before? What have been some of your favourite shows to date and why?

I haven’t done Camden Fringe as yet, so looking forward to it bigstyle (as I think the youth put it, these days). But I’ve done a few fringes … e.g. Greater Manchester, Brighton and Edinburgh (and Edinburgh again this year with the  The Church of The Fall. 

What advice would you give to others who want to perform at Camden Fringe next year?

As the hashtag goes #jfdi which, as we all know, means ‘just FLIPPIN’ do it’ – we all have doubts, nerves and fears, even outwardly confident and pretentious types, like moi but there’s lots of love and support for performers from the Camden Fringe and it’s audiences support it right royally.

What is the best thing about performing at the Camden fringe?

For me, a chance to do a great fringe festival for the first time and also to catch up with some old chums from the time that I lived in the smoke – cor blimey guvnor, they was poor times but they was happy times!

What are your three favourite things about Camden?

The lovely and supportive organisers

The range of shows that are being put on

That the Camden Fringe is letting me perform at it.

Favourite one liner you have done in a show and why?

Currently “my boss, he has the imagination of a gnat”. This is a Mark E. Smith lyric from a Fall track, please come and see my show The Church of The Fall on 1st August at 7:15 pm at Camden People’s Theatre to find out why x.

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

Aside from the late, Mark E. Smith (sadly not possible, obvs) as he would likely mercilessly heckle me and be the star of the show, from his seat on the front row … I’d love to have Jesus in the audience, as he was genuinely a good friend of mine before I became an atheist and I think that he would agree that The Fall is the greatest creation of his Dad’s life (which is what I would hope that my Dad would have said about me).

The iconic image of the Camden Fringe is the Pigeon – if you could call this years pigeon a name to represent its style what would it be and why?

I would call the Pigeon ‘Yankee Doodle Pigeon’ after the pigeon in my favourite childhood show ‘Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines’ where Dick Dastardly, Muttley (his dog) and co. tried to catch a pigeon (for some reason, can’t remember why). The refrain of the title song went “Nab him, jab him, tab himgrab him” and you (reader) should nab, jab, tab and grab as much of the Camden Fringe as you can.

If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?

Twitter @stevecomic or @COTFShow

Facebook – Steve Titley

Instagram – @tevetitley

And Finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show? 

Laughter, music, love.