“What’s the difference between working, middle and upper class? Well, I guess the answer is…
Follow Lucy Maughan as she takes you on her journey of moving from a small seaside town to the big city. ‘Ascent’ gives a heartfelt insight into one woman’s search for purpose and meaning. Enjoy an evening of shattered class and a whole lot of laughs as Lucy tries to navigate through the social void.”
Lucy Loughnane & Joseph Ward bring their show Ascent to the Camden Fringe (6-7 August, Museum of Comedy). Read on for more details from Lucy!
Tickets – https://camden.ssboxoffice.com/events/ascent/
Tell me about your Camden Fringe show! What’s it all about?
Ascent is an autobiographical one-woman show about growing up in a working-class town in North Wales and moving away to study at university and drama school.
Lucy Maughan’s ambition forces her to leave Wales in the pursuit of something more, but once she starts rubbing shoulders with the higher classes, she realises quickly that she is out of her depth. We watch as she desperately tries to fit in, changing parts of herself such as her mannerisms, etiquette and even her accent in an attempt to conform. When she returns home for summer break, everything she once knew has remained the same yet completely changed and what she once called home no longer resembles what she remembered.
Undeterred and still on a mission to make something of herself, she moves to London, where she is confronted with people romanticising her experiences of poverty and claiming those stories as their own. Lucy tries to listen but it’s hard to hear past the silver spoon. She feels completely lost in the world and unable to express this feeling of limbo that has been thrust upon her since becoming disconnected from who she once was.
Packed with physical theatre, spoken word, multi-rolling and much more, this show is a heartfelt insight into one woman’s search for purpose and meaning as she moves from her small seaside town to the big city, trying to navigate through the social void and find her place in the world.
What’s the best thing about being part of a festival like this?
The best thing about being part of a festival like Camden Fringe is the relationships that we’ve built along the way. We have connected with so many other creatives and everyone genuinely wants to help each other out. There is no sense of rivalry or competition, everyone is really supportive and it is a beautiful thing to be part of. Also, seeing the variety of new shows out there is incredible and I think that this year, the standard is so high and we’re so excited to support new artists making exciting work after a tough few years for the arts, they’re the ones keeping theatre alive!
What has your company been up to over the part year of theatre recovery?
Our company was formed during the past year as we created this piece of work to keep us going throughout the madness. The story is really personal to us and explores concepts that we think don’t get talked about enough, but are incredibly relatable for many people.
Working towards Camden Fringe has allowed us to keep motivated in the challenging times that the industry has faced recently and our plans for afterwards are getting bigger and bigger. We have also been supporting new shows throughout the past year, as audience members and prod team. We love new writing as it inspires us and allows us to build new connections with creatives and London theatres. We’re so excited to perform in August and to see lots of new theatre too!
Do you have further plans for the show after the Camden Fringe? Or other shows in other spaces?
We want to take Ascent to some more venues around London and we’re hoping to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe next year. We are also interested in touring universities throughout the UK and potentially doing a tour of Wales, too. The play has a unique Welsh quality that resonates globally so we’re excited to see what happens next. There are some other ideas in the works from the company that we’re hopefully going to explore in some other venues around London too.
Let’s finish on a one liner. Why should I come to see Ascent?
Come and swap the cider for champagne, but after Ascent you might want to swap again…