Camden People’s Theatre’s SPRINT Festival returns with a packed programme throughout March. London’s “best-established carnival of new and unusual theatre” features artists with bold ideas, artists who don’t play by the rules, and artists, in many instances, making their first professional work.
This is the fourteenth of a series of interviews highlighting artists and work within the Festival, as I chat with Rhys Williamson about his show A Very Difficult Person.
Are you afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? You should be.
Storyteller Rhys Williamson brings A Very Difficult Person to SPRINT Festival 2026, reshaping a real roofing scam into a dark and uncanny modern fairytale.
When the Big Bad Wolf knocks at his door, Rhys lets him in, sits him at the dining room table and is shocked when the wolf tries to gobble him up. A small repair twists into unease, mistrust and the cold realisation that your home may no longer be yours.
Using storytelling and object theatre, Rhys digs into safety, shame, love and the fragile structures we rely on to feel secure.
Where: Camden People’s Theatre
When: 26 Mar, 9pm
Ticket link: https://cptheatre.co.uk/whatson/A-Very-Difficult-Person-WIP
Your show A Very Difficult Person is showing at SPRINT as a work in progress. What can you tell us about it?
A Very Difficult Person is a darkly comic storytelling show about my real-life experience of being scammed by a roofer.
I’ve reimagined the story as a cautionary fairytale inspired by a children’s book my dad wrote for me based on the Three Little Pigs.
The rogue trader becomes the Big Bad Wolf. It allows the show to be playful and theatrical, while still being rooted in something very real.
Beyond the scam itself, it’s a story about what it means to call somewhere home, and how far you would go to protect it. It’s dark, honest and surprisingly funny.
As this is based on a true story, was it easier to develop than something completely fictional?
In some ways, yes. Because there was a chance I’d have to go to court to get my money back, I’d already collated a 30-page document of everything that had happened. Messages, photos, videos. It was a goldmine of material.
But real life doesn’t arrive in a neat dramatic structure. My first draft would probably have run close to three hours. I wanted every detail in there. Every injustice. Every twist.
The challenge was shaping it into something theatrical and entertaining. Building in the fairytale logic gave me permission to move beyond strict fact and focus instead on emotional truth. That’s when it really started to feel like a show rather than a witness statement.
How did you make your start in the business?
In 2013, I was doing stand-up and met magician and storyteller Chris Cook. He wanted to take a show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and asked if I’d help him develop it.
Our first show was in 2014, and I’ve worked on all his shows since as a writer, producer and director. Pretty much everything I know about crafting a show, we’ve learnt together by doing it.
I’ve loved being behind the scenes, but I’d been wanting to step into performing my own work for a while. This show feels like the moment I finally can do that.
What might audiences expect from your show, and what message would you like them to take away?
I set out wanting to raise awareness about rogue trading scams. When it happened to me, I thought I was too savvy to be tricked. I think a lot of us believe that.
If the show helps even one person pause before handing over money, I’d be delighted.
But it isn’t a doom and gloom piece. It’s funny. I’m interested in the absurdity of what happened, and in the strange comedy that can exist even at the most stressful moments.
It also asks bigger questions about morality and tolerance. How do you deal with someone who doesn’t play by the same rules as you? What do you do when the systems meant to protect you fall short?
I don’t offer easy answers, but I hope audiences leave thinking about how we navigate imperfect systems.
What’s next for you and the show?
For A Very Difficult Person, I’m excited to see how it evolves after this work in progress. I’m lining up Bristol dates, which feels significant because that’s where I live and where the story happened. The long-term plan is to take it to Edinburgh in 2027, and after that I’d love to tour it.
In the meantime, it’s a busy year. Chris Cook and I are taking two shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Our 2025 show Fake is returning, and we’ll be announcing a new show set in the world of art heists very soon. Clearly, I have a recurring interest in scammers and conmen. Alongside that, I’ll be producing work at the Fringe through my company Snap the Arrow.