Theatre Peckham is returning for a second triumphant year with Peckham Fringe, hosting 17 productions over five weeks, taking over the main theatre and studio space.
This year, Theatre Peckham’s Ambassadors have worked closely with Artistic Director
Suzann McLean to programme the festival. Featuring stories of heritage, growing up, and navigating our expanding digital world. Just like Theatre Peckham itself, Peckham Fringe illuminates underrepresented voices and talents. The festival programme reflects the theatre’s local landscape as well as celebrating dynamic new stories.
Ambassador Vanessa Bunn says, having read the submissions separately, we came together with Suzann, shortlists in hand, to fight for our favourites and plan a programme that spoke to the multifarious interests of our Theatre Peckham community. Amid passionate conversation, some gentle disagreements, many laughs (and lots of snacks) we built a Peckham Fringe programme that left all of us genuinely excited!
Ambassador Omolara Olusola adds, Theatre Peckham is a brilliant organisation that showcases world-class talent. It’s amazing for a theatre to let local community members invest and contribute to such a significant piece of programming that isn’t couched under a “community strand”. Theatre Peckham has always been innovative and ahead of its time, and Peckham Fringe is just another example of this.
The Ambassadors have chosen a selection of highlighted productions below, encapsulating the wide-ranging themes and ideas of Peckham Fringe:
I LOVE ACTING, BUT F**K THIS INDUSTRY by Faisal Dacosta and Raphel Famotibe kicks off the festival, providing a hilarious and truthful insight into the struggles faced by many trying to carve a career in theatre. Close friends, Manny, Ade, and Zion, navigate their way through the post-pandemic acting industry of 2023, as it puts their group dynamic and mental health to the test.
That’s Your Friend from Guski Gang Productions follows the chaotic antics of three young women as they embark upon the Black Girl survival guide for university. Away from the cultural comfort of their homes, the twenty-somethings form a natural sisterhood and with their newfound freedom their journey of independence and adult awakening becomes even more thrilling.
NYAMAKALA: AN AFRICAN STORY by Marie-Ange Camara invites the audience into a world of West African storytelling, traditional live music, and empowerment of Black Youth in celebration of Bulu Kuwo: a rite of passage ceremony. The play challenges the Western idea that Africa doesn’t have a history and showcases the power of oral traditions. To become griots, the great West African storytellers, three teenagers must first prove they can handle their nyama—the life force that produces words—by sharing their own stories.
NED, shortlisted for the BBC Comedy Submissions and the Channel 4 4Stories Award, by Lola Shaw, is a darkly comic piece exploring the disconcerting acceleration of technological advancement today. When Violet loses her job, she violently and publicly destroys the computer that replaced her. Cowering from the backlash, she retreats to her flat indefinitely with no one for company but her thoughts and a figure from the past who had the same destructive impulse.
A Ribbon Around A Bomb by Molly Tompsett, allows audiences to participate in a creative art history workshop celebrating the incredible life and work of visionary artist Frida Kahlo. Participants will explore Kahlo’s use of surrealist imagery in the creation of her often-biographical work, participants will create abstract collage pieces.
The above are a few slices of what is on offer across five weeks, there is something for everyone at Peckham Fringe! Peckham Local tickets are also available to the hyper-local community, and concessions are available for those in receipt of a State Pension/Job Seekers Allowance/ Disability Benefit, Under 16s, Students and Equity Members.
Audiences are also invited to attend the free Launch of Peckham Fringe 2023 event at Theatre Peckham on Friday 5th May from 7pm. Suzann McLean and the Ambassadors will say a few words, and then there will be the chance to see the first show I LOVE ACTING, BUT F**K THIS INDUSTRY at 7.30pm.
