TURTLE: A Story About Christ, Cancer, Kinks, and Christmas, Aces and Eights
The Camden Fringe 2025 interviews still keep coming! We’ve set ourselves a target to publish 100 over July, so each and every day except some more. You can find all our of them here.
Next to chat to us are Alex Osborne and Blake Stratso, who will be bringing TURTLE: A Story About Christ, Cancer, Kinks, and Christmas to Aces and Eights on Thursday 31 July and Thursday 7 August. Turtle is a porn-addicted, sex-obsessed, foul-mouthed, functioning-alcoholic Catholic, which surely demands some joke about sounding like our some of our reviewers… but we’ll resist, as we have no idea if they are Catholic or not.
What can audiences expect from the show?
AO: Audiences can expect a wild roller coaster riding through the ups and downs of a Catholic-guilt ridden man trapped between his actions and their consequences.
BS: And some chats about penises, crazy Catholics, Christmas, and his best friend’s possible fiancée named France. Is he French? Come find out.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
AO: TURTLE has been put up twice before above a pub in a function room under candle lights and no budget. We received a lot of praise from industry professionals there and were encouraged to take it elsewhere to reach a wider audience in a professional space.
What was your inspiration behind the show?
BS: What it means to be Catholic without feeling the guilt that comes along with it, and how that’s almost impossible to do. I’ve spent many years studying and questioning my belief and I’ve seen so many people just up and leave the Church, but I couldn’t ever come to grasps with that idea. Leaving the Church would be like leaving my family or my culture. So Turtle was born from a place of questioning whether or not you can be naughty, say things you should never say, battle grief, and still believe in God.
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
BS: Since the idea popped into my head five years ago, the show has changed drastically. Everything from timelines, relationships, character – even now, every few days something in my day to day life will happen that will inspire a joke to go into the script. But, with all of these changes, the essential “why” and the crux of the show has stayed the same from the inspiration.
What is it about your character that you most enjoy?
BS: His boldness. How he says anything he wants, whenever he wants, no matter how crass or in-your-face it is. And with that, how you can’t keep yourself from liking him in spite of all his flaws. And I think, most importantly, how everyone can see a little bit of themselves in these flaws.
What has been the biggest challenge in realising the writer’s vision for the show?
AO: Blake was adamant about using a minimalistic set. Although that was a hurdle, the biggest challenge I found with this script is that there are roughly four timelines happening at once. The writing dispenses a cyclical momentum that I think parallels the cyclical feeling of dealing with grief, a theme heavily touched on and dealt with by Turtle in his own unique, graphic ways.
Representing four different timelines with only one performer, one costume, one barstool, and one prop without making it obvious wasn’t easy but it really pays off. I also helped structure the script to parallel the liminal feeling of these timelines with the character’s wavering stability.
How important is audience interaction to you?
BS: There is no better legal high than getting a laugh or a gasp from an audience: feeling that your work can resonate or affect someone to their core is exhilarating. Pardon my language, but f*cking with an audience is something I always take into my writing. Audiences intrigue me. I want to know what makes them tick or what I can say to make them think. Will it change their opinion, or will it solidify it? I love these questions and the game that comes from it as a writer. So while Turtle doesn’t have audience participation per se, he definitely plays that game the entire show.
If you had to describe your show as a colour what would it be?
BS: Yellow, it’s the cheaper, more grungy version of gold.
If you had to describe your show as a meal what would it be?
BS: A coffee and a cigarette: the coffee to wake your mind up to think, and a cigarette to calm the existential angst you get from thinking too much.
If budget or reality was not an issue, what’s the one piece of scenery/set you’d love to have in your show?
AO: Candles. Candles. Candles. Hundreds of them filling the space. Think an altar at a church just littered with candles. Big, small, scented, unscented, any will do. Just candles…
BS: And maybe a giant Crucifix.
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received during your career, and how has it influenced your work on this show?
BS: Write like you aren’t afraid. Be bold, say the naughty joke, push boundaries. Know your ending: how you get there doesn’t matter.
Thanks, dates and links
TURTLE: A Story About Christ, Cancer, Kinks, and Christmas plays at Aces and Eights on Thursday 31 July and Thursday 7 August.
