The Camden Fringe Interviews
Fool House Theatre on bringing ‘You, I Am A Child’ from page to stage.
The modern dating scene is fraught with pitfalls: ghosting, catfishing, using photos from 10 years ago! But what if your first date actually went really well but then they disappeared, would you be responsible for raising the alarm? That’s the thought that inspired Fool House Theatre‘s new play, You, I Am A Child.
Luckily for us, writer Dominic Conneely Hughes and director Tara Choudhary didn’t disappear when we asked them for a chat about the show and its journey to the Courtyard Theatre for this year’s Camden Fringe.
Welcome to Fool House Theatre, I’ll let you introduce yourselves.
DCH: Hi, my name is Dominic Conneely Hughes (but please call me Dom the moment you meet me, I just say Dominic so I have a funky writer’s name!). I am the writer of the play and co-producer as part of Fool House.
TC: Hello! I’m Tara Choudhary, I’m the director of the show, and am co-producing with Dom as part of Fool House.
What can audiences expect from the show?
DCH & TC: You, I Am A Child centres on an imaginative young woman, Hannah, who has an amazing but complicated first date with Oliver. However, the next day she rushes to a police station after becoming convinced something has happened to him. It is a tense and darkly funny examination of how dating, work, social media, and childhood can carry you this far, then pull the rug out from under your feet. With a show produced by Fool House, you’ll definitely laugh, you might cry, but you will certainly walk away thinking “How the hell did I just see that in a fringe theatre?”.
And where is it you hope you walk away from saying just that then?
DCH & TC: We are playing on the 13th, 16th and 17th August at the Courtyard Theatre, between Old Street and Shoreditch, so perfect for a pint(s) after the show. We knew we wanted a theatre with at least a 70-80 person capacity, as we had worked in smaller pub theatres before and knew we were ready for the step up. The flexibility offered by the space meant we could go a bit wild with our staging, which perfectly fits the play.
What was the inspiration behind the show?
DCH: When I first moved to London I was single and so quickly fell into the pattern of app-based dating and the entire culture that comes with it. As well as all the strange idiosyncrasies and behaviours of this world, I had the morbid thought “What would happen if the person I went on a date with just disappeared?” Without much of a connection to them, no matter how passionately you felt about them, the feeling of grief was something that you couldn’t reasonably attribute to that situation. This propelled me down the rabbit hole of this circumstance as the idea grew and morphed in my notes for several years. Added to this were my feelings and observations of London, technology, and how my generation is handling its transition to adulthood.
So how long have you been working on this script?
DCH: I started working on the project in earnest around September 2023. I was able to workshop a version of the opening 10 minutes over a few weeks with a couple of actors, and this was really important seeing it on its feet and spoken aloud. This experience was invaluable and one I would recommend to all writers starting on a play where the form or style eludes them. I began writing drafts properly at the beginning of 2024, after Tara and I agreed to work together and have the play ready by this summer.
Is the version coming to Camden Fringe how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
DCH: Since those 10 pages that I workshopped and even the first full draft, the play has changed a great deal. I probably have learnt more about the redrafting process in this play than any other I have written. Though it was painful at times, coming into it without too much of a fixed idea as to what it would look or feel like, regardless of how well I knew my content or topic, meant I was always open to new ideas. Other writers’ exercises had a huge effect on my process, as well as the works of Nick Payne, Harold Pinter, and poets throughout history, especially elegies. If you don’t know what you’re writing, widen your net, and you’ll be surprised by what you catch.
Tara, what was it that made you want to direct Dom’s script then?
TC: Dom first mentioned this project to me in December last year during a casual conversation at the pub, and I was immediately captivated by the concept. The idea of being the last person to interact with someone who then goes missing, especially in the context of a first date, is profoundly unsettling and intriguing. This narrative stayed with me, and I knew that I wanted to be the one to bring it to life on stage. Having previously worked with Dom, I also knew our collaborative dynamic was strong, and I was excited about the prospect of partnering with him again on this project.
What is your favourite element of the show?
TC: My favourite element of the show is its extraordinary surrealism. The play’s bizarre and unsettling events create a unique atmosphere, and I was excited about the opportunity to amplify this sense of the surreal, especially given that the settings – a first date at a pub and a police interrogation – are otherwise quite “ordinary”. I know it’s cheating to mention a second favourite, but I’m also particularly fascinated by the multi-rolling aspect of the play. Drew, the actor who plays Oliver, also takes on every other character (apart from Hannah), which deepens the play’s surreal quality. Exploring this dynamic as a director has been both a challenge and a thrill, and added another layer of intrigue to the production.
What has been the biggest challenge in realising Dom’s vision for the show?
TC: Ironically, the biggest challenge in realising the writer’s vision is also what I love most about the play: its surreal nature. Bringing Dom’s unique world to life, with its rapid character switches for Drew and seamless transitions between a pub and a police interrogation room, has been particularly demanding. Ensuring that these shifts and transitions are clean, clear, and swift has proven to be the toughest part of the process, but it’s also what I hope will make the execution even more rewarding.
Being Camden Fringe, we all know sets have to be bare minimum, how have you got around this?
TC: Given the constraints of Camden Fringe, where minimalism is imperative and a blessing, we’ve adapted by keeping our set quite simple. We use just two chairs and a table, which effectively support the play’s needs while respecting the limited resources. Although the script includes a significant setpiece, a one-way mirror, we’ve opted to leave this to the audience’s imagination. This approach not only helps make things easier for us but also invites the audience to engage more deeply with the surreal and psychological aspects of the play.
What words of advice/ encouragement would you give anyone thinking about doing Camden Fringe next year?
DCH: Considering we haven’t actually performed our show yet I’m sure there are far more relevant and pressing lessons that we will learn over the remaining couple of weeks. But looking back over the past seven months, of writing, producing, casting, re-writing, paying for and planning rehearsal, my advice would be to: 1) work with people you like and trust, and 2) start prep as early as possible and get fixated about the idea that this is what you want to do. It’s a long journey but it will come around quicker than you expect. And you might as well have fun with someone else along the way.
If you had to describe your show as a famous person, who would it be and why?
DCH & TC: Amy Winehouse – a bit mysterious, catnip for the dreamers, very London, and often leaves you with a bittersweet feeling.
If budget was not an issue, what’s the one piece of scenery/ set you’d love to have in your show?
DCH & TC: A mirror (lol). But we’ll save this for the West End transfer.
Many thanks to Dom and Tara for taking the time to chat. You can catch You, I Am A Child when it plays at the Courtyard Theatre on the 13th, 16th and 17th of August. Further information and tickets available here.
