Writer/performers, and founders of Tale Blazers, Lara Lawman and Lily Roberts, tell us about their show Rosaline and Juliet, playing at this summer’s Camden Fringe.
It’s running now – so be quick!
“It’s 1396 and courtship is complicated. Rosaline has been dumped, Juliet is in love, and it’s unclear who has it worse.
When events at the Capulet ball set fate in motion, Ros and Ju must navigate accidental murders, love triangles, and the peaks and pits of female friendship.”
Where: Lion & Unicorn Theatre
When: 29 Jul – 1 Aug
What are you looking forward to the most at Camden Fringe?
We cannot wait to bring our show to a London audience.
Last year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival we had the pleasure of performing to an international audience, but missed performing to our more local friends, family and colleagues.
We created this show, mainly, on London soil, so surely now it deserves a London audience? We believe that our show is returning stronger than ever and we look forward to receiving feedback.
Also, we can’t wait to support other Camden Fringe shows. The lineup is very exciting.
Tell me about Rosaline & Juliet. It was a success in Edinburgh last summer and has been described as “a love story, but not the one you think” and “a new comedic take on Shakespeare’s most famous love story”. I’d love to know more!
Rosaline and Juliet is an irreverent yet affectionate reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, which poses the question: would Juliet Capulet’s journey have been different with the support of a female friend?
Co-creators Lara Lawman and Lily Roberts are best friends in real life and have always wanted to create theatre that champions complex female relationships, and the importance of sisterhood in women’s lives.
Rosaline is the real cousin of Juliet (mentioned, but never seen in the original text) and we saw this as the perfect opportunity to bring to life a character and subsequently, a relationship that has never been seen but ‘could’ have existed alongside the original narrative.
The whole of our story takes place from after the Capulet ball (when Romeo and Juliet meet), until… pretty near the end (no spoilers!)
So it is set over the course of only a few days, but we hope the action is filled with drama, humour, and real insight into the relationship between Ros and Ju.
We hope that there will be moments of relatability, comedy, and poignancy.
There will of course be plenty of Shakespearean Easter Eggs for the hard core Shakespeare fans, but we like to think the show is also tailored to people who aren’t obsessed with Shakespeare and those who are on the fence.
Ultimately, we hope to provide an evening of pure entertainment, celebrating two flawed female characters!
Why do you think people still seek out new versions of Shakespeare and find parallels with our time now?
Shakespeare is of course one of the greats, and we think through studying, watching and performing Shakespeare, these experiences can highlight important things about today’s society.
We went to a fascinating talk at The Globe recently on Shakespeare and Consent, which brought to light so many things about moments in his plays we hadn’t considered before.
Shakespeare also created worlds, characters, plot lines and speeches that have always been seen as iconic. Who wouldn’t want to creatively respond to his work?
However, with this opportunity came challenges: often, we drove ourselves crazy over specific moments in the Romeo and Juliet time line and constantly questioned: but would that make sense contextually in their world?
Also, it is not even confirmed 100% which century Romeo and Juliet was meant to take place, so we had to research thoroughly into this and make a decision.
It’s a challenge that we would say is totally worth it, but to never assume it’s going to be easy, especially if you want to do it well! (Which we hope we do!)
You are playing your show at the Lion & Unicorn. Has this been an inspirational place to develop the show further?
The Lion and Unicorn have been very supportive throughout the process and we are very grateful to be performing with them.
David and the team are fab, and we would recommend them highly. They have made the journey of our first Camden Fringe very enjoyable.
What’s next for Tale Blazers?
What’s next for Tale Blazers? Sleep! We joke, but definitely a couple of weeks off to recover.
But after that, we have an upcoming one-off show in London, and hopefully some South East/West performances that we are currently in the process of confirming.
Then we shall see! We would love to take the show further. Beyond that, we have some other projects in conversation, so watch this space!