Swashbuckling pirates, medical experiments and puppet adventures feature in the line-up of family shows in this year’s Camden Fringe, which runs from 2 to 29 August.
Showcasing the talents of established theatre companies and newcomers alike, the Camden Fringe has grown steadily since it was founded in 2006. This year’s festival comprises 700 performances of over 200 different shows across eight venues in Camden, north London, including the newly opened New Diorama theatre, where many of the children’s shows take place.
Among the line-up of 10 family shows are two historical adventures. The snappily-titled The Time Travelling Adventures Of The Pirate Revlon Scarlet: The Search For Drake’s Gold (24-29 Aug) follows a pirate on a time-travelling journey through the streets of London in search of treasure from the Golden Hinde; Dr Death And The Medi-Evil Medicine Show (14-19 Aug) combines history with science as it entertains children with mistakes, experiments and gory stories from the history of medicine.
Puppets have their turn in the limelight with comic end-of-the-world tale OOK! And The Terrible Thing That Happened (10-12 Aug), Night Light (16-20 Aug), which takes audiences to the dark side of the moon, and Soapy Sam (12-13 Aug), a story about a naughty little boy aimed at both deaf and hearing children.
Over at the Roundhouse Studio, a stubborn young girl gets lost in a clockwork world in The Clock Master (9-10 Aug), and Gwyn discovers secrets about his ancestors in a stage adaptation of Jenny Nimmo’s magical novel The Snow Spider (3 Aug).
Children with musical tastes are catered for with You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (21-22 Aug), a musical based on the Peanuts comic strip featuring Snoopy, and Upstairs at the Gatehouse hosts the comedy musical Punch (5-6 Aug), in which King Punch and Queen Judy are banished to the human world and fight to reclaim their throne.
For the full Camden Fringe programme visit the website.
CB