Colchester Fringe returns for its fourth year, opening on Friday 25 October and running to Sunday 3 November at venues throughout Colchester. Our Lakeside Theatre team have previewed the shows featuring University of Essex alumni and students at this year’s festival.
Colchester Fringe
Established in 2019 by Essex’s very own Dr Cameron Abbott-Betts (PhD Theatre Studies 2024) and Steve Goatman, and with its first iteration taking place in 2021, Colchester Fringe celebrates and supports the work of local emerging artists while also working to attract acts and theatre companies to Colchester from across the UK and beyond.
Alumni and student shows at Colchester Fringe
Sub Titles Over
A new play by BA Literature and Drama 2022 graduate Marina Cusi Sanchez (The S is Silent, Plucked).
Just hours away from the referendum for Catalan independence, two young anti-fascist activists hold hands in the dark, waiting for the police to arrive... Performed in Catalan with English subtitles.
Marina said: "Sub Titles Over is a multilingual, multidisciplinary extravaganza of a one-woman-show. With nothing else than one performer on stage and English captions on the back, this show explores political activism, democracy, state censorship, and the manipulative power of translation.
In this show, Cusí is a tour de force in acting, commanding the bare stage by herself for 50 minutes, delivering a performance that encompasses three languages, ten characters, and an infinitude of twists and turns.
If you're interested in the nuances within translation and how these shape the way we see and understand the world around us, you simply cannot miss this show!"
Three Wise Monkeys, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October
Tickets
Spit It Out
PhD Creative Writing student Alice K Stephens’ new play about coming out as trans came to the Lakeside Theatre in February 2024 and then went on to take the 2024 Pinch of Vault festival by storm, and was loved by Brighton Fringe audiences too.
BA Drama 2024 alum Isobel Sheard (The S is Silent) co-directs and delivers a spectacular supporting performance alongside trans actress Willow MacDonald (PECs, 11 Miles) and Robyn Faye (Les Enfant Terribles).
Headgate Theatre (Rehearsal Room), Friday 25 to Wednesday 30 October
Tickets
Pup Play: A Queer Pseudo-Lecture (of sorts)
PhD Theatre Studies (by practice) student Noah Alfred Pantano presents a surprisingly introspective and chaotic search for identity featuring audience participation, homonormative puppet shows, kinky gay sex, and erotic musical numbers.
Noah said: "Pup Play is a controversial, unapologetic, and brave journey through gay fetish subculture. The play has already faced a torrent of angry emails, defaced and torn down posters, and a stern warning not to flyer on the street due to fear of hate crimes in Colchester (and the show hasn’t even been performed yet).
That’s why this piece was created and why students should come see it.
Pup Play, behind its silly masks and sex, is a stirring examination of the fears and joys queer identity can bring. It is based on real research by real people who all demand we do more to protect even the most different of subcultural kinky communities.
(Also Essex Students get 5£ tickets with code ESSEXLGBTQ so you might as well go just to support 🐶)"
Three Wise Monkeys, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 October
Tickets
My BF Wouldn’t Buy A Stupid Window (Why I Did and Don’t Regret It)
MA Scriptwriting student, amateur comedian and self-professed sex-icon, Jake Halimi, performs his hilarious queer stand-up show about a neurodivergent queer man and his obsession over a window found in a thrift sale.
Patch, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October
Tickets
I Deleted Hinge for Deliveroo
Taa Very Much Theatre Company are a new theatre company featuring Adult Nursing student Angharad and her friends.
This hilarious original show follows Robyn, “a single pringle who’s not quite worked out how to mingle” who is convinced to download Hinge in a quest to find love, but longs for the sweet embrace of her true love, Deliveroo.
Angharad, Tilly and Alex said: "We at TAA don’t mind making fools of ourselves, and we are sure this hilarious light-hearted cringeworthy debut production of ours will make you laugh.
Loosely, we repeat LOOSELY, based on real life stories or people we’ve met along the way, this show reassures audiences that it’s okay if your love life is not plain sailing. Everything happens for a reason and you may even end up meeting a fine distinguished Essex gentleman in the most bizarre way.
So why not watch Robyn and her pimp on their quest for love …. you may even get a side of fries."
Headgate Theatre (Rehearsal Room), Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October
Tickets
Creator is Present
Kraken Theatre are an emerging Colchester based theatre company made up entirely of Essex students and alumni.
An original play, written and directed by MLit Drama and Scriptwriting student Emma Kopf and featuring Shania-Grace Thompson and BA Film Studies 2024 graduate Peter Vetere (who will bring his own new writing production Zarbopulon 5 to the Lakeside Theatre in Spring 2025), Creator is Present explores the heart of the human experience through a mesmerising blend of absurdity and introspection.
Emma said: "Creator is Present questions the true essence of theatre and the reason why we as humans keep coming back to it so much. It opens our eyes up to the possibilities of storytelling and of its challenges too. The play completely ignores the fourth wall and acknowledges the audience's presence as part of the show. While some scenes take place in the dark others are brought to the light and all the while the Protagonist never stops working. Hubris, seeing the Protagonist's folly, one day decides to change this.
This is not merely a play - this is an invitation to explore what it really means to be part of our own story."
Headgate Theatre (Rehearsal Room), Sunday 27 and Tuesday 29 October
Tickets
The Little Prince
Another one from the Kraken Theatre team! Featuring a line-up of undergraduate drama students: Lolly Taylor, Tyler Reuben, Alice Bain, Eden Camara, Corey Lee and George Goddard.
Written and directed by Lolly Taylor and Tyler Reuben, The Little Prince has been adapted for the stage from the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and is suitable for all ages!
The Kraken team said: "This new play, The Little Prince, takes the original story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and adapts it for a modern audience of all ages. The show includes puppetry, innovative blends of theatrical styles, a collection of colourful characters brought to life by six talented actors! We know that this play will resonate with every single one of you and we would love it if you could come and see it.
We can’t wait to see you there!"
Headgate Theatre (Main), Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 October
Tickets
Blurred Lines
BA Drama 2023 alumni Bryony Palmer plays the lead role in a play which explores themes of consent and delves deep into what it really means.
Inspired by Andrew Bovell's "Things I Know to be True", this story explores the life of Poppy, who has been solo travelling Europe for the last three months. Lonely and longing for excitement, she meets a young man at a nightclub in Berlin, who sweeps her into his crazy world.
Bryony and Freddie of Aion Theatre said: "We’re Bryony and Freddie, the cast of Blurred Lines! Our show follows Rosie’s solo trip to Europe, where she meets Lucas, a man who pulls her into his chaotic world. Their whirlwind romance soon becomes complicated as secrets from that night threaten to unravel everything.
The play explores the complexities of consent: What is it? What constitutes consent? How has its meaning evolved in modern society?
Join us on October 26th at 8:30 PM and October 27th at 4:30 PM—we’d love to see you there! 🙂"
Headgate Theatre (Rehearsal Room), Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October
Tickets
Two Come Home
Two Come Home may not feature any Essex alumni, but this beautiful production had its World Premiere at the Lakeside Theatre in March 2024.
A decade after a dramatic split, star-crossed lovers reunite at the worst time. Guilt, rage, and love collide in this new play with music.
Mercury Theatre Studio, Tuesday 29 October to Sunday 3 November
Tickets
Forest of Truth
While there is no Essex alumni or student presence Theatre Group GUMBO, the Kabuki theatre performers from Japan, were the Artist’s Pick winner at Colchester Fringe 2023 and you may have seen them on campus rehearsing with our own Noah Alfred Pantano!
Welcome to the Forest of Truth! Stepping through the boughs of the densest trees, Man and Woman ‘fall in love’. However, the mythical residents of the forest have other plans. An award-winning raunchy satire about LOVE.
Headgate Theatre (Main), Saturday 26 October to Sunday 3 November
Tickets
