Benedict Esdale is responsible for two shows at this year’s Camden Fringe.
Knapsack and Snakes & Ladders Is A Losing Game are very different plays, and Benedict tells us more about them below.
Knapsack:
“Through clown and physical storytelling, Knapsack plays on stereotype and the absurd to address serious topics in a bizarre and engaging manner. Snails come in all shapes and sizes, and so do emotions.”
Where: Etcetera / Hen &.Chickens
When; 1-2 Aug / 17-18 Aug
Ticket link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/knapsack/
Snakes & Ladders …
“is about the complexities of adult relationships, the conflict between home and away, and the joy and pain in games of various types. The play also addresses queerness, capitalism, and chimney sweeps all while centring an intelligent, confident West Country voice.”
Where: Rosemary Branch Theatre
When: 5-7 Aug
Ticket link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/snakes-and-ladders-is-a-losing-game/
What’s important to you about Camden Fringe?
It’s in London! It’s not… anywhere else… With the behemoth that is Edinburgh becoming a little difficult to access, having a home-grown Fringe that prioritises small companies and emerging talent is absolutely vital.
Especially with the sad demise of Vaults, there’s really nothing else on the same scale, and it fills the all-important space of the broad first step for a lot of theatre-makers.
For me it’s an important platform to say, ‘hey, I’m putting on a show, for real’, and it’s important because I’m walking distance from a bunch of venues, yay me.
You’re taking two very different shows there this year – tell me aboit them!
Yes, two plays, both written by me, one with me, one without me, neither about me (or are they…).
Knapsack, a gem of a clown/comedy/odd solo show. No set, no props, no special sound or lighting effects, just a man called Herman in an ill-fitting brown suit telling his rather unusual story.
It’s sweet, it’s a bit sad, it touches on some pretty deep themes, but through a lens of – okay, but what if someone could turn into a snail?
It’s funny in the way you’d laugh at your friend as they try to tell a story, but they get all the names and places wrong, and forget where they started, and have to go back …
It’s a play about loneliness and overthinking, but also about imagination and story-telling.
Snakes and Ladders is a Losing Game. Long title, only just fits on the poster!
Two best-friends, Sarah and Jack, used to be together (romantically), then Jack was with Alice, that didn’t work out, and not Alice is with Sarah, but they’ve hit a rough patch so Sarah’s hanging out with Jack, and that’s all before we get started.
It’s about relationships, and LIES, and board games, the rules of our lives, the complicated situations we find ourselves in a couple of Loves down the line.
The two actors in this show, Casey and River, are unbelievable talents, come and watch them play.
Have the venues you’re playing in been hepeful in developing your show?
I am an absolute advocate for the ‘Pub Theatre’ and similar venues.
Most of us are popping in and out of these spaces, visiting for just our allotted couple of days, or even hours, and leaving again for someone or something new to get stuck in.
So, I’ve found that what really makes a venue stand out, more than how good the lighting rig might be, or how many black blocks they’ve got available back-stage, it’s the people that make the difference (they’re usually slightly insane).
Both venues I’m working with for Camden have been responsive, positive, kind, encouraging, and excited. [The dates at Etcetera Theatre were a late addition].
Both are spaces in which I’ve seen the excellent, the hilarious and the unusual, and both have been pivotal in the development of the show by the simple fact of being spaces in which I could see the show.
And I mean see both literally and in the sort of ‘theatre-maker’s eye’. They’re spaces that make you want to make something.
What other shows are you interested in at Camden Fringe this year?
Goodness me there’s a lot on, most of what I’ve liked the look of is things that make me go huh? What? What’s that about?
Hercules Poirot? Like the detective? Whiplash? That’s about something I don’t know anything about. Gloria’s Gift? That one literally has a question mark in the title!
Charis King’s Wummy, Magpie I’ve heard excellent, excellent things, there’s a musical about Twilight, great! There’s a comedy show with a man’s face on a Bowling Pin, that’s brilliant.
There’s at least TWO shows about PIRATES. And go to Maar, Dora that’s a fascinating show, real gem.
Follow Camden Fringe on Instagram: they post on their story all the shows going on that day.
Just go to anything and everything you can, maybe I’ll be there! We can hang out!
What’s next for you?
Knapsack will be on as part of the Lambeth Fringe, September 22nd, then it’s the big, wide what’s next indeed for these two.
There are a couple more on the way, one gritty thing about live music and religion and where we find peace, and then an ensemble play about the Alt-Right, don’t you just love them.