The Camden Roar is a three-week festival exploring the lives of Camden residents, past and present.
Camden People’s Theatre’s festival will welcome new artists, familiar faces and local participants as part of their 25th anniversary year celebrations.
The festival will be headlined by Human Jam (7th – 25th May), a new piece conceived by artistic director Brian Logan; uncovering the biggest exhumation of graves in European history, taking place in St James’ Gardens as a result of HS2 works.
Human Jam tells the history and future of CPT’s local park, to explore the human impact of large scale infrastructure; told through the eyes of some of Camden’s most notable historical figures. Onstage, Logan will be joined by co-deviser and performer Shamira Turner, one of the founding members of Little Bulb Theatre, as well as members of a community choir drawn from the surrounding area.
Beats and Elements, the hip-hop theatre company, will present High Rise eState of Mind (7th – 11th May), a new show exposing young people’s fears of where they will live. Using grime, beatboxing, hip hop, looping and MCing, the show features performer/beatboxer Conrad Murray, spoken word author Paul Cree, rapper Gambit Ace and spoken word artist Lakeisha Lynch Stevens (AKA grime MC Lady KI KI) in a fast-paced story unpicking the fears and frustrations of Generation Rent.
Alongside the performances at Camden People’s Theatre, High Rise eState of Mind will tour to two local community centres, transforming their building into a performance space for local residents of the estates. A curtain raiser performance will be created through a series of workshops for young people who use these facilities, led by Murray and Cree from Beats and Elements, with the support of rapper Junior.
Returning after a hugely successful run in 2017, performance artist Tom Marshman’s Kings Cross (REMIX) (21st – 25th May) uncovers the hidden histories of LGBTQ communities in London during the 1980s.
Showcasing memories of the Kings Cross area, which has undergone radical change since its day as a hub of LGBTQ culture, Marshman weaves together the stories of people who experienced it first-hand.
Inspired by Kings Cross (REMIX), CPT will curate two exciting intergenerational events between queer elders and contemporary pioneers. The first is an evening of lively conversation, on where we’re at and how we got there, between LGBTQ+ trailblazers both old and young. The other is an afternoon of performance by veteran queer artists and new kids on the block, hosted by Tom Marshman.
Meanwhile, local poet, performer and playwright Sean Mahoney’s critically acclaimed Until You Hear That Bell (14th – 15th May) explores growing up in the world of Amateur Boxing.
Also joining The Camden Roar’s line up is theatremaker Dani Kolanis’ solo show Cadets (15th – 18th May), following Camden Volunteer Police Cadets as they take on a gruelling physical competition to save their unit from being disbanded.
The festival will also feature the latest production from Camden Youth Theatre, an adaptation of Bryony Lavery’s NT Connects production, It Snows (12th – 13th May).
When: 7th – 25th May 2019
Where: Camden People’s Theatre, 58 – 60 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PY
£: Tickets prices vary, depending on the show
More info: www.cptheatre.co.uk
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