Camden People’s Theatre (CPT) today announced its Autumn 2025 season, running from October 16th to November 29th, alongside a transformative new financial model designed to better support artists. Moving away from the traditional door-split system, CPT will now offer guaranteed upfront fees to all artists and companies programmed in its main season, regardless of ticket sales.
This landmark shift aims to actively reduce the financial precarity faced by marginalized artists, rebalancing risk and responsibility. While acknowledging the financial implications, CPT believes this approach will empower artists to focus on the quality of their work and ultimately benefit audiences. The guarantees will be supported by a mixed-income model, blending box office revenue, fundraising, and strategic partnerships, with a long-term vision to cultivate individual donors and creative collaborations that align with CPT's commitment to justice and equity.
As part of a wider strategic shift, CPT plans to programme fewer shows with extended runs, providing more meaningful support for productions, fostering greater press interest, and building momentum for each piece. Importantly, this commitment to artist security does not come at the expense of early-stage or experimental work, with scratch performances and work-in-progress nights continuing on Tuesdays, alongside their popular cabaret and alternative programming on weekends.
The Autumn 2025 season itself reflects CPT's renewed dedication to timely and politically urgent theatre. The programme opens with "Living with Drones," an electrifying piece of live journalism reporting from Gaza. Saturday nights will see Trans artists taking over the venue, and every finished show programmed will feature integrated accessibility.
Highlights of the season include "City for Incurable Women," a surreal dive into medical misogyny; "Countess Dracula," a bold, clown-infused reworking of the vampire myth; and "The Foodbank Show," a furious and funny participatory protest about austerity Britain, complete with free pizza. The season also features "A Court of Paper," a multimedia excavation of Nazi collaboration in Dutch family histories, and "Barrier(s)," a beautifully performed queer, bilingual love story exploring communication across cultures.
This bold season, coupled with its radical shake-up of artist payments, positions Camden People’s Theatre at the forefront of innovative and equitable theatre programming in the UK.
