Exploring the lives of Camden residents, past and present, Camden People’s Theatre’s festival welcomes new artists, familiar faces and local participants as part of their 25th anniversary year celebrations. The festival will be headlined by Human Jam (7th – 25th May), a new piece conceived by artistic director Brian Logan, uncovering the biggest exhumation of graves in European history taking place in St James’ Garden as a result of HS2 works.
Artistic director at CPT since 2011, Brian has previously toured internationally as co-director of acclaimed theatre company Cartoon de Salvo, has co-created numerous shows with CPT and is a comedy critic for the Guardian. His latest show Human Jam tells the history and future of CPT’s local park to explore the human impact of large scale infrastructure, told through the eyes of some of Camden’s most notable historical figures. Onstage, Brian will be joined by co-deviser and performer Shamira Turner, one of the founding members of Little Bulb Theatre, as well as members of a community choir drawn from the surrounding area.
Beats and Elements, the hip-hop theatre company behind Frankenstein at Battersea Arts Centre, will present High Rise eState (7th – 11th May), a new show exposing young people’s fears of where they will live. Using grime, beatboxing, hip hop, looping and MCing. High Rise eState of Mind features performer/beatboxer Conrad Murray, spoken word author Paul Cree, rapper Gambit Ace and spoken word artist Lakeisha Lynch Stevens (AKA grime MC Lady KI KI) in a fast-paced story unpicking the fears and frustrations of Generation Rent.
Alongside the performances at Camden People’s Theatre, High Rise eState of Mind will tour to two local community centres, transforming their building into a performance space for local residents of the estates. A curtain raiser performance will be created through a series of workshops for young people who use these facilities, led by Conrad and Paul from Beats and Elements with the support of rapper Junior.
Returning after a hugely successful run in 2017, performance artist Tom Marshman’s Kings Cross (REMIX) (21st – 25th May) uncovers the hidden histories of LGBTQ communities in London during the 1980s. Showcasing memories of the Kings Cross area, which has undergone radical change since its day as a hub of LGBTQ culture, Tom weaves together the stories of people who experienced it first-hand. Inspired by Kings Cross (REMIX) –– CPT will curate two exciting intergenerational events between queer elders and contemporary pioneers. The first is an evening of lively conversation on where we’re at and how we got there between LGBTQ+ trailblazers, both old and young, while the other is an afternoon of performance by veteran queer artists and new kids on the block, hosted by Tom Marshman.
Meanwhile, local poet, performer and playwright Sean Mahoney’s critically acclaimed Until You Hear That Bell (14th – 15th May) explores growing up in the world of Amateur Boxing, and has previously toured to boxing gyms all over the country. Also joining The Camden Roar’s line up is theatremaker Dani Kolanis’ solo show Cadets (15th – 18th May), following Camden Volunteer Police Cadets as they take on a gruelling physical competition to save their unit from being disbanded. The festival will also feature the latest production from Camden Youth Theatre, an adaptation of Bryony Lavery's NT Connects production, It Snows (12th – 13th May).
Artistic Director Brian Logan said, “In a year of celebrations at Camden People’s Theatre as we mark our quarter century, we’re particularly excited to launch The Camden Roar, a three-week festival dedicated to the people of this extraordinary neighbourhood we call home. Camden is one of London’s most iconic places, but it also harbours countless untold stories – none more so than those of the residents and traders (and human remains) devastated and displaced by HS2. Featuring some of Camden and the UK’s most exciting theatre artists, this festival proudly tells those stories – of hidden queer histories, of boxing gyms and broken property ladders – in a series of innovative and unforgettable theatre shows.”
Founded 25 years ago, Camden People’s Theatre is one of Britain’s most influential studio theatres. Its mission is to champion different ways of thinking about the world by supporting emerging artists making adventurous theatre – particularly about issues that matter to people now. Its work is rooted in the communities of Camden and London. Through it, they celebrate the bold, the spirited and the unconventional.
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For full listings information on all upcoming shows at Camden People’s Theatre, please visit: www.cptheatre.co.uk/whats-on
Listings information
Camden People’s Theatre, 58 – 60 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PY
08444 77 1000 | www.cptheatre.co.uk
www.cptheatre.co.uk | 020 7419 4841
Human Jam | Camden People’s Theatre 7th – 25th May, 7.15pm
How do you excavate 63,000 bodies? Where will they go? And what will be uncovered by all this digging? In St James’ Gardens, right on CPT’s doorstep, the biggest exhumation of graves in European history is taking place. Parks and pubs are closing, too. People are losing their homes and businesses. All to make way for HS2’s new railway terminal. CPT’s epic new docu-theatre co-devised and performed by Brian Logan and Shamira Turner, digs deep into a small but stubborn community, an £80bn infrastructure project – and the ghosts of Euston past. Tickets £12 (£10 concs).
High Rise Estate of Mind | Beats and Elements 7th – 11th May, 9pm
A stunning new show from the makers of No Milk For The Foxes, DenMarked and BAC’s Frankenstein exposing young people’s fears of where will they live, will they ever afford to live somewhere clean and safe, is it a fair race or is the system fundamentally f****d and a home is just a modern-day pipe dream? High Rise eState of Mind tells difficult-to-swallow truths through a dystopian lens using grime, beatboxing, hip hop, looping and MCing. A fast-paced, urban story about class and housing, frustrations, inequalities and the pointlessness of it all at times. This show features performer/beatboxer Conrad Murray, spoken word author Paul Cree, rapper Gambit Ace, and spoken word artist Lakeisha Lynch Stevens (AKA grime MC Lady KI KI). Tickets £12 (£10 concs)
It Snows | Camden Youth Theatre 12th May, 5.30pm | 13th May, 7pm
Camden People’s Theatre’s world-class Youth Theatre are back with a brand-new show having returned from gracing the stage at the international Chrysalis Festival at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre. Expect their signature brand of inventive performance and some seriously impressive talent. Tickets £8 (£5 concs, Free for under 19’s).
Until You Hear That Bell | Sean Mahoney 14th – 15th May, 9pm
All Boxing gyms have a clock that structures time into three minutes rounds for boxing and one minute to break.Three minutes skipping. One minute break. Three minutes fighting. One minute break. Three minutes on the bag. One minute break. In his first one-man show, Sean Mahoney has one of these clocks hanging above his head, ticking and ringing, as he details ten years of fighting and breaking growing up as a London amateur boxer.
Three minutes boxing, one minute with dad. Three minutes boxing. One minute playing the Dreamcast. Three minutes boxing. One minute revising for GCSE’s. As the pressures of choosing what his life will look like life begin to mount and the three day a week training turns into something potentially more long-term Sean has to try to make the right choices while contending with a changing relationship with his father his school, and more importantly whoever’s gloved up in the other corner. Tickets £12 (£10 concs)
Cadets | Dani Kolanis 16th – 18th May, 9pm
Volunteer Police Cadets, Gabbi, Staff Joe, Camden Town, drill, dougie, Malibu and JD, Redbridge, bleep test, vom, the ethnic minority backhand, Rude Boy, first aid, free food and diversity quotas. Follow Camden Volunteer Police Cadets as they take on a gruelling physical competition to save their unit from being disbanded. Cadets is a solo play written and performed by Dani Kolanis. Tickets £12 (£10 concs)
King’s Cross (Remix) | Tom Marshman 21st – 25th May, 9pm
Returning to Camden People’s Theatre after a hugely successful 2017 run, Kings Cross (Remix) uncovers the hidden histories of LGBTQ communities in London during the 1980s. Tom Marshman excavates those histories through memories of the Kings Cross area – which has undergone radical change since its days as a hub of LGBTQ communities, bars and culture. Woven together from the stories of people who experience it first-hand, Tom’s show celebrates a raucous, riotous time in the life of central London where sexuality was for exploring, HIV was causing tragedy, and rights were to be fought for. Tickets £12 (£10 concs)
Camden People’s Theatre is supported using public funds from Arts Council England, The Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the HS2 Camden Fund.
