Space Hopping Theatre are opening Escape for Dummies at Camden Fringe later this month.
“Two shop dummies: alive and desperate to escape their retail prison.
Drawn to each other by an unspoken bond, they hatch a plan to ‘checkout’ from their nine to five drudgery, and discover the world beyond the shop doors.
But with dogged security guards prowling the shop floor, nighttime burglars on the scene and an unhinged floor manager overseeing everything, escape is anything but for dummies.”
Where: The Courtyard Theatre
When: 16 – 17 Aug, 23 – 24 Aug
Ticket link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/escape-for-dummies/
I asked Laurence Cuthbert (creator/director), Josh Mallalieu (creator/director) and Sam Morris (playing Old Dummy/founder of Space Hopping Theatre) to tell us more!
What’s your show about and what inspired it?
JM – Escape for Dummies is about two mannequins’ escalating attempts to break out of the department store they’re trapped in.
LC – It’s a show for everyone, full of laughs and larger-than-life characters, all without our main characters uttering a single word.
JM – We grew up on the likes of Aardman and Pixar, and strive to capture the same magic in the way those stories appeal to kids and adults alike.
LC – I think we all feel trapped and unsatisfied with where things are going for us at some point in our life. So we thought, what’s a fun, unique world to explore this in? Sentient mannequins was the obvious next step…
Why should someone come to see your show and what might they expect?
LC – There’s a lot of darkness in the world and theatre can be a brilliant place to confront the issues many of us face.
Conversely, theatre can also be a way for people to escape the stresses and worries of life!
We hope Escape for Dummies provides such an escape, where audiences can expect a hilarious and heartfelt adventure in just an hour.
JM – The show has action scenes, slapstick comedy and dance. Our two dummies battle against security dogs, lasers, tasers, mops, Dolly Parton obsessed security guards and an unhinged floor manager.
LC – I’ve always seen it as ‘Aardman on stage’. It has tremendous heart and explores that deep, universal feeling of just wanting to find connection in life with those around you.
The dummies find that in each other and I hope it’s something that resonates with our audiences.
How did you make a start in the business?
JM – We all met at university and first performed this show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017. It went really well and over the years we’ve always wanted to revisit the show.
SM – I’ve always been drawn to visual-first theatre, relying less on text and voice.
Over the last few years I’ve trained with several physical theatre companies and refined my own practise: which is to combine movement, dance and puppetry to explore the human experience through extraordinary worlds, humour and heart.
I’ve set up Space Hopping Theatre to work with like-minded creatives. My first show, GAPS, went up in 2024, which explored urban isolation. But I’ve never quite been able to get Escape out of my head.
So this year I reached out to Josh and Loz about reviving it … and half a year later here we are, about to perform at the Camden Fringe.
Do you have a favourite type of venue to work in?
LC – *Coughs* The Courtyard Theatre of course (I’ll slip you the tenner later Siva!)
SM – The Courtyard is a fantastic space though! I love black box theatres. All theatre takes so much hard work from many many people.
But the, like, energy and passion of all the shows telling stories and bringing people together, feels so much more imprinted in those spaces to me.
What’s next for the show?
JM – We’re excited to open the store doors again at the Camden Fringe and get audience and reviewer feedback on this revamped version. After that, we will wait and see…
SM – We’ve been laying the groundwork for it to tour some of the UK fringes (a return to Edinburgh would be amazing – best get saving!)
It’s a show that everyone who’s seen it has come away from feeling happy and buzzing. Spreading that as far and wide as possible would be a privilege.