Writer and producer Sara Bei brings her play ADvsHD to Camden Fringe this month.
“Alice and Bea are that kind of sisters that tell each other everything. Or at least they used to be.
They used to be many things, before Bea moved abroad and interrupted contact almost entirely 2 years ago.
Like polar opposites of the ADHD brain. That’s the only thing they certainly still are.
Now Bea is back, and Alice doesn’t really know how to feel about it.
She demands to know why Bea left, but Bea is very determined not to tell her.
And she’s also very determined to annoyingly take over Alice’s space with all her backflips and her handstands; all the while stopping Alice from zoning out and wasting away in her room.
Will they rekindle their friendship, or will they loose each other for good?
Join us for this snappy, sarcastic deeply relatable play about sisterhood and change.”
Where: Rosemary Branch Theatre
When: 8-12 Aug
Ticket link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/advshd/
What’s your show about, and where did the idea come from?
ADvsHD is about the unique bond that forms between sisters and how it takes effort to maintain, especially when the sisters are as different from eachother as our protagonists are.
In fact, one’s very hyperactive and one very disattentive. Their ADHD is contrasting and rather than bringing them together splits them apart.
It also doesn’t help that Bea (the older) is back living at home after two years of cutting her sister out of her life completely.
The inspiration for this play was always right in front of my eyes, as the characters are based on my sister and I. She lives in Italy and I live in London and we see eachother all the time; but for writing this play I let the “what if(s)” carry me away. I imagined how things would go down if first something were to put distance between us and then life was to bring us under the same roof again.
We also shared a room growing up, so I knew exactly how claustrophobic that feels sometimes.
With that as inspiration and my love for her grounding me, it was a pretty easy play to write.
Sell it to the potential audience in one sentence.
Backflips, quick witty comedy and takes on neuro divergence are the pillars of this heartfelt relatable new play.
Why did you want to be part of the Camden Fringe?
Living in London and having seen plays from the Camden Fringe before, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of at some point.
I’ve brought plays of mine to fringes before but never here in London. The Camden Fringe seems so vibrant and inclusive and London’s audience is so wide and encouraging.
So when our first run of this play at the Etcetera Theatre as part of the Womens Writers Festival was a success, I knew that this was my chance!
What’s your favourite memory of Fringe theatre?
My favourite memory of Fringe Theatre is probably one from Buxton Fringe. I brought a very feminist political show there a couple years ago. At the end of the play, the ensemble opened the doors and let the audience out. There was no curtain call. But one evening at the end of the show the audience waited outside until the end of our get out and when we left the theatre we found them all there still crying and clapping. It was incredibly emotional and rewarding.
What’s next for you/the show?
After our run in August, we’re planning on attempting to bring the show to some ADHD centres. Moreover, we are organising applications for funding so that we can bring it to Edinburgh next year.
As for me personally, I’m currently working on a new play dealing with environmental themes. I’m really excited about this new adventure, it’s always interesting to be in the early stages of writing a new play as I love the research it involves, I always end up learning loads of new things about the world!