We Have Not Long to Love, Camden People’s Theatre
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Carly Helms and Jacob Proctor are undoubtably fans of Tennessee Williams, and it’s their love of his work that is brining We Have Not Long to Love to Camden People’s Theatre for four performances between 7 and 9 August, with tickets here.
But before they get deeper into rehearsals, we found some time to quiz them on just how they came to want to explode Williams’s works.
What can audiences expect from the show?
Audiences can expect the theatrical poetry of Tennessee Williams, brought to life through his intricate and often eccentric characters, and our dreamy movement sequences by Cheri McKenzie. As we are guided by a mysterious figure known as The Agent, this lyrical journey reminds us that transformation is always possible — if we dare to reach for it.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
This will be our world premiere! The project began during our MFA, and we’ve done two small workshop showings for our colleagues – just enough to test things out and shape the piece. But Camden Fringe will be the first time We Have Not Long to Love meets the world.
We are a brand new company that just graduated from LAMDA, so we are excited to join the Camden Fringe family and make new connections to the London theatre scene through this spectacular festival!
What was your inspiration behind the show?
Carly: It all started with “Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen…” It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever read. I remember finishing it, immediately sending it to Jacob, and he called me saying, “That’s the one. We have to do this.”
From there, we kept reading Tennessee Williams’s short plays – these incredible, lesser-known works filled with his most poetic language. We were drawn to how many of them wrestle with the same core theme: escapism. His characters often feel trapped in their circumstances, dreaming of a way out. These short plays, many of them early works, hold similarities to character and language that have manifested into his major works.
There was something magical about how these separate stories, with entirely different settings and characters, all seemed to speak to each other. It made them feel like paintings in the same gallery, and so, we curated them as such.
What was it that drew you to this show and role?
What drew us to “Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen. . .” was the swinging between stagnancy and change with these somber characters that Williams names “Man” and “Woman”. Each of them is like a lost child looking for a friend. Their connection is like the switching sides of a magnet, a continuous cycle of repelling and then conjoining.
In further development, we found “The Lady of Larkspur Lotion” to fit on one side of “Talk to me…”, a woman repelling reality, and the other, “The Case of The Crushed Petunias”, to fit on the other side, a woman joining the human manifestation of change.
Are there any plans for what comes next after the show has finished its run – for you or the show?
We’re committed to shining a light on Tennessee Williams’s lesser-known works. Whether we continue with this show or develop another from our growing collection, we know these plays deserve more attention.
If you had to describe your show as a meal what would it be?
We’re the perfect three-course meal.
The appetizer is “The Lady of Larkspur Lotion”—light, flavorful, and a great way to whet the appetite. A smoky red bean soup.
The main course is “Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen…”—rich, dense, and deeply satisfying. Fried chicken with collard greens and cornbread.
And for dessert, “The Case of the Crushed Petunias”—something sweet and warm that lingers. A caramel cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
What is the weirdest or most unconventional prop used in your show?
A lemon in a cage.
In “The Case of the Crushed Petunias”, Mrs. Simple has an emotional support canary (that she may or may not secretly dislike). In rehearsals, before we had a prop canary to use, we had set a grape in there as a placeholder. Then, Alex Holliday who plays our “young man”, had the idea of using a lemon as the canary. As Williams describes the play “a lyrical fantasy”, I (Carly) said- absolutely. And now we love our lemon.
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received during your career, and how has it influenced your work on this show?
“Make your own work. Don’t wait for it to come to you.”
That’s stuck with us. The truest form of your craft often comes from the things you create yourself. You can’t wait for someone else to hand you an opportunity or give you permission. Just get out there and create the kind of work you believe should exist in the world. That’s exactly how this show came to be.
Thanks to Carly and Jacob for taking the time to chat. We Have Not Long to Love will be playing at Camden People’s Theatre from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 August.
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