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 find out about the show LondonGrad

Date: 29th July-2nd August
Time: 21:00
Price: £14 Concession £10
Location: Camden People’s Theatre

Ticket Link:https://camdenfringe.com/events/londongrad/

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

The first ever draft was actually called ‘The Thick Of It Homage’ but I quickly realised that would probably step on some sort of legal copyright toes so I had to be original and think of my own. Sigh. Considering the premise of the show is Putin buying  London, Londongrad seemed the obvious choice. Although one of my friends  thought it was a show about graduates in London so maybe not.  

Tell us a little bit about your style of show? 

It’s an absurdist political satire. Initially, it was inspired by funniest satires of all  satires, The Thick Of It, but politics in the 2020s is far too absurd for the realistic style of satire seen in the centrist daddy era of the 2000s. I am also far too dramatic  for any sort of subtly. So now it’s an outrageous, silly, chaotic, and insanely fast paced parody of geopolitics. In terms of comedy, it’s a blend of all my favourite TV  shows: The Thick Of It, The Office, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Lots and  lots of shouting. Poor actors.  

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

I would really like to see some of the more performance dance/experimental pieces  through Camden Fringe as they are such different styles to Londongrad. Particularly  Nostos, the day before our show at the Camden People’s Theatre!  

How are rehearsals going? 

They are going well! We definitely don’t have enough of them, but the team are  insanely talented. For our last, much shorter iteration of Londongrad, we had about 2  proper rehearsals and they were all in the basement of one of the team’s boyfriend’s  pub. Now we have an actual studio space which feels very professional.  

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

I think being part of the celebration of the huge amounts of theatrical talents we have  in London. Fringe theatre is such an important characteristic of London, both  historically and today so having a festival dedicated to platforming emerging  creatives is an amazing thing. Being part of that festival is itself the best thing about  performing at Camden Fringe. Also the centralised ticketing system is really helpful, I  don’t have to make a website!  

London can be an expensive place to perform in – what key advice would you give  to performers that is a sort of life hack?

You can rehearse anywhere. The pub, the park, a living room, wherever. We only  got a studio space for some of our rehearsals and it’s not making a huge difference  to the quality of our rehearsals, it just makes it feel a bit more real.  

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member? 

Jeremy Corbyn. I did actually send a press release to his constituency office and  invited him in person when I saw him at the festival I work at. Going to start  spamming his constituency office now, I really want him to come. He said he would.  

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? 

It would be Puts. Puts is the loving nickname the characters in the play give to their  best pal Putin. It’s also the inside joke for our team mascot: Puts the Pigeon. I  bought Puts for about £3 on Amazon as a prop for one of our promotional videos and  he looks so AI generated and weird looking, we just had to call him Puts.  

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

Follow @londongrad_theplay where you can see all of our crazy promotional  content, including a full rap and music video! I wrote the lyrics and Cameron, our  token man, produced the music and he smashed it! It’s all filmed in Westminster and  it looks really quite amazing so check it out

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

Politics. Shouldn’t. Be. This. Funny. (I know that’s 5 but I tend to overwrite)

Thank you again for all your support in reading and engaging with the website.

If you want to help support the website then you can! You can buy Holly a cup of tea (and a biscuit!)