Mark Ludmon sifts through the theatre highlights of Wandsworth Arts Fringe
Wandsworth Arts Fringe is back, bringing a packed programme of shows to locations across the south London borough from Battersea and Balham to Putney and Tooting. Running from 4 to 20 May, it features more than 170 events from circus, comedy and spoken work to free music workshops, dance and an outdoor carnival. Shillington Park in Battersea will come to life with a dazzling circus in a new purpose-built big top, while The Errant Stage will travel around the borough showcasing the best of the fest.
One of the hubs for fringe theatre will be Upstairs at The Cat’s Back in Point Pleasant in Wandsworth in a takeover by Fragility, a partnership of performers based in London. Shows include Doubtful Sound’s The Women of Ishikawa on 5 and 6 May, presenting hilarious and horrifying Japanese folk tales, and Purple Theatre’s mixed-media solo show Vanessa on 19 and 20 May about love, loss and acceptance in its story of a woman attending her gay son’s wedding. Singer-songwriter Marcus Reeves will perform his own spoken-word and music show Sighs Ten about love, lust, loss and loneliness on 5 and 6 May while Miranda Porter promises a one-person gender-messing physical show in S/he/it Happens on 4 and 20 May.
Fragility is also taking over The Arches at St Mary’s Church in Putney High Street with an even more extensive programme of shows. Theatre includes Music Box Theatre’s Treasure, about what Alex finds inside the garden shed after the death of her mother. Written by artistic director Laura Kaye Thomson, it is on 13 and 20 May. Gillian English’s She Wolf explores perceptions of women in positions in power through the story of 15th-century queen Margaret of Anjou, who was an inspiration for Game of Thrones’ bad-ass Cersei Lannister. The internationally touring show hits The Arches on 18 and 19 May.
Also at The Arches is Beerey, a verbatim play sharing the true experience of Elle Beere and her father Jon Beere who is serving 24 years in prison for a crime he maintains he did not commit, fighting for his freedom along with the rest of “The Freshwater Five”. Told by Elle herself, it looks at the impact of a wrongful conviction on children and other family members left behind, with no holds barred and feisty humour. Staged by campaigning group 5women104years, it is on 15 and 16 May.
Too Many Figs’ Astapovo is a surreal, black comedy inspired by the existential musings of Sartre and Camus. Kate Brown, Elaine O’Dwyer Garrison, Johnny Parr, Nour-Ani Sisserian and Martin Trent play five people examining their lives as they wait for a train, exploring how we respond to mortality and its place alongside the mundane aspects of life. It is at The Arches on 15 and 17 May.
A Woman in Search is a one-woman show that looks at the complex line between actress and character. As the two become blurred, one cannot exist without the other so this intimate performance asks what happens if the two cannot stand each other. It is presented by Filth, a collaboration between artists Rory Foster and Eliza Caloe, and is at The Arches on 16 and 17 May.
Stunning Meara is a musical play about a Selective Mutism sufferer who falls in love with someone with Asperger’s autism. Written by Robin Marchal and directed by Maurice Thorogood, it is at St Mary’s Church on 4, 5 and 6 May, with Leonora Fyfe and Patrick Lynch. Poppies from Music Box Theatre on 16 May at St Mary’s Church is a concert version of the new World War One folk musical. Based on a true story, it shines a light on the women who risked their lives to bring music, theatre and poetry to battle-scarred soldiers.
Leading fringe venue Tara Arts in Earlsfield is another destination for the festival, including I’ll Say It Again, a season of work by women artists throughout May to mark 100 years since women first got a vote, ranging from theatre and dance to film, music and poetry. Townsend Theatre’s touring show We Are The Lions, Mr Manager comes to Tara Arts on May 7, telling the story of Jayaben Desai, the inspirational leader of the 1976-78 Grunwick Strike in London who stood up for workers’ rights and against oppression.
Other highlights include Traitors, Cads and Cowards by Martin McNamara which is staged in Wandsworth Prison where the play is set. In the military wing of the prison in summer 1916, an Irish volunteer from Dublin’s East Rising is bunked in with a British army deserter from the trenches of Verdun as well as a conscientious objector. It stars Aonghus Weber, Aidan Casey and Benedict Waring. With the performance on May 14, tickets must be booked by May 7.
Blackshaw Theatre Company’s show, The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell, at Putney Arts Theatre on May 11 and 12 is a radio play by Chris Buxey, performed with live foley sound effects. It is a dark comedy about principles, money and the importance of family, where young-adult author Stuart realises that there might be more than the usual vampire sharks and giant man-spiders preventing his literary heroine Frankie from making it to the end of her latest adventure.
