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 Tina Zucco about the show Just Sayin’

Date: 12th-14th August
Time: 9:00pm
Price: £15 Concessions £13
Location: Hope Theatre
Ticket Link: https://camden.ssboxoffice.com/events/just-sayin-by-tina-zucco/

Hello! Tell us about yourself? 

Hey there, my name is Tina Zucco. I’m an Italian actress/writer/producer. I consider myself     Ita-nglish because I can’t eat pizza, don’t like coffee, and I’ve lived in the UK so long that I’m now a complete mix of the Italian and English cultures! I’m a hybrid and I love it!

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

Caterina, the main character of Just Sayin’, is quite a judgemental person and she often uses the phrase “just sayin'” to hide her judgment before other people can judge her for being judgy… Funnily enough the line recurs less and less as Caterina grows throughout the play.

Tell us a little bit about your style of show?

Just Sayin’ is a one-woman theatrical play that grapples serious, and sometimes heartbreaking, themes with humor, honesty, and warmth. Our team loves theatre that makes you laugh and cry at the same time and, most importantly, makes you grow. So that’s our goal with Just Sayin’.

What will your set be about?

An Italian girl moves to Barcelona and starts volunteering for the homeless community for all the wrong reasons…

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?

I wrote Just Sayin’ at the same time as two of my friends Matt Hansen and Georgia Mardon wrote the projects they’re showing this Fringe! We started our creative journeys after taking a writing course together at the National Youth Theatre so seeing their projects develop alongside mine kind of felt like taking our kids to nursery and seeing them play and grow together. 

So, I would definitely recommend seeing Someone Else’s Shoes at the 2 Northdown theatre and, if you feel like watching two shows on the weekend of the 12th of August, then don’t miss The Phase at the Cockpit theatre!

It is your first time doing the Fringe – how do you feel about it?

I’m not nervous… you’re nervous!

Just kidding. The whole team feels very psyched about it. We had a trial run at the Brighton Fringe so to know what to expect from a fringe audience and the competition that comes from running at the same time as so many other incredible shows. Now that we’ve tried it, we’ve learnt, and we’ve improved, we can’t wait to share our beautiful, award-nominated show with London.

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

The biggest advice I’d give is to go and watch as many shows as you can this year because you’ll learn something from each one of them! Also, it’s great to support other artists who, just like you, are trying to make it in a very competitive industry.

What are your favourite things about London?

1. Camden

2. The fast pace

3. All the international food restaurants and stalls everywhere

What are your three favourite things about Camden?

1. All of the international food stalls, for sure!

2. All of the pigeons that somehow each look very distinctive and unique

3. The fact that it’s in London is also a big plus, cause I love London.

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

You gotta hand it to short people… mostly because they can’t reach it. Just Sayin’

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

Ideally, I’d love to see Archie and Ricky from Bodhi Talent Agency, but if they can’t make it we could settle for Phoebe Waller-Bridge!

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

ALVARO, in honor of our most magnetic voice-over actor. He’s never on stage but he’s always somehow present, raising morale and making you feel all good and fuzzy inside. Plus, he’s full of class and charisma, just like the Camden Fringe Pigeon!

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

We are on Instagram and Twitter as @justsayin_theplay, but people can also follow @tina_zucco_actor on Instagram or @TinaZucco_actor on Twitter as most of the updates also get shared on my social media pages. Both the show and I are also on Facebook so really there’s a place for everyone to follow us and learn more about what we’re doing.

If you want to book tickets you can do so via the link in our social media bios, or by directly going to the Hope theatre website. And! If you can’t make it, we have a very cool thing called a GoFundMe page, where anyone can donate the cost of a ticket and then receive the filmed performance to watch from their homes! That can be found at https://gofund.me/10e945d9.

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

This has been a very tricky question so we tried a bunch of 3-words combinations

1) You just should 2) It is funny 3) Won’t regret it #Just Sayin’