SUNLAND, Lion and Unicorn Theatre
Camden Fringe is less than four weeks away, so time to start planning. If you need help in deciding which of the many hundreds of shows to see, then why not check out some of the interviews we’ve published or have coming up over July. You can find all our Camden Fringe interviews here.
Next to take the time out of rehersals to tell us about their show is the team behind SUNLAND, which will be gracing the stage at Lion and Unicorn Theatre for the first three days of the festival (28 – 30 July). SUNLAND takes us to a Thai beach resort, where Charlie, Bo, Fran and Yael, are seemingly waiting out their final days before an asteroid collides with Earth.
Want to know more? Then read on to see what the team behind the show have to tell us.
Gigi Downey (GD) Producer and playing Fran
Madeline Whitby (MW) Writer/Designer
Madison Cole (MC) Director
Rebecca Goddard (RG) Role of Yael
Isaiah James-Mitchell (IJM) Role of Bo
Lily Walker (LW) Role of Charlie
What can audiences expect from the show?
MC: SUNLAND is a thought-provoking and grounded interpretation of what the end of the world could look like.
GD: SUNLAND is a not-so-distant future where four people are fighting for survival, friendship and hope.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
MC: We will have performed at Bitesize Festival at Riverside Studios in early July for six performances.
GD: We really wanted to perform at the Camden Fringe this year as it is always such a varied programme of new work that is engaging, vibrant and urgent. SUNLAND is amongst incredible work that pushes boundaries and, we thought The Lion and Unicorn Theatre would be a really perfect, intimate fit for it!
What was your inspiration behind the show?
MW: I’ve grown up in a climate aware era, and thought a lot about whether it’s morally okay to bring a child into a world I know may experience climate collapse. I had an argument with my mum about it a while ago and it really highlighted how different her attitude was towards it. When she was having children, climate change wasn’t even a consideration in her mind – but for me, it’s the entire conversation. So SUNLAND came from trying to answer that question.
How long have you been working on the play?
MW: I’ve had SUNLAND on the backburner since 2023. I did a workshop and scratch night with an extract in 2024, which really solidified my interest in developing it, and I finished the first draft in early 2025!
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
MW: It’s changed a huge amount! But I think the real core identity of the play is the same. It went through several iterations with different characters before I settled on the four in the play – Charlie, Fran, Bo and Yael.
It really came to life in the scratch night and that’s definitely where I saw how the story should go from start to finish. I generally find writing endings really hard, but with SUNLAND, the ending became so clear once I saw it performed.
What was it that drew you to this show?
GD: I played Fran in the original scratch night piece, and was immediately drawn to the unapologetic urgency of the writing. Fran’s story is incredibly timely, especially for those female bodied and sparks conversation around pregnancy that I feel have never been depicted on stage so fearlessly and authentically.
IJM: I was drawn to this show by the quality of the writing. I think it’s rare to get the opportunity to originate a role in such exciting and electric new writing and so I knew I couldn’t turn down the role of Bo.
RG: The idea of a play that points out the flaws of our current consumerist, classist, and capitalist country was immediately enticing and has been rewarding. Yael being Jewish was a huge draw. In a world where differences still cause hatred, war, and now genocide, I want to show that I, and many Jews, refuse to stand complicit in the face of hate.
LW: The not-so-distant future SUNLAND is portraying is what drew me to the play. SUNLAND tackles where we are heading as a society in terms of climate change in such relatable way, in which I haven’t seen in many other pieces about this subject.
What is it about your characters that you most enjoy?
RG: I think Yael has the most wonderful soul, her love for everything and everyone is so pure and gentle; it’s just beautiful. She has a very strong sense of justice, feels connected to the Earth, wants to be free of any and all troubles, and optimistically tries to find peace; in spite of everyone around her.
GD: I adore Fran’s comedic side! She is witty, passionate, heartwarming and defiant and has a brilliant fighting spirit. She finds the light in a situation of gloom. She is also deeply inquisitive; a trait I’m enjoying exploring further in rehearsals.
IJM: I most enjoy the depth of kindness I have to find in my portrayal. Bo goes through so many trials in this show and honestly portraying them is tiring, but it is their constant empathy in the face of hardship that I most enjoy playing.
LW: I have enjoyed trying to understand Charlie’s motivations. Charlie, on the surface seems to have a real front up so, going deeper than that and justifying and exploring why she is the way she is.
How challenging have these roles been for you?
RG: I see a lot of myself in Yael. She isn’t perfect, but she knows what she wants in her final moments, finds that peace and tries to find it for everyone else. Yael doesn’t set out to please other people, so finding our differences has been the biggest challenge.
GD: To remain as spoiler free as possible! Fran has a very difficult scene in the play relating to an unwanted pregnancy and it has been challenging exploring how to stage this huge, real life issue justice, but tackled by approaching Fran’s situation with care, sensitivity and authenticity.
IJM: Very! There are parts of myself that I see in the character and playing Bo has meant recontextualising what I thought were weaknesses and stupid mistakes into actions of love and compassion.
What brought you all together?
MC: I applied to direct the show after a mutual friend of the playwright sent me the callout for directors on instagram. I applied not knowing anything about the show beyond its logline pitch, and I’m so glad I did. This group of creatives is among the most welcoming, excited, and dynamic group I have encountered in my professional career thus far
GD: I auditioned to play Fran in the original scratch night performance, and then was approached to also produce the show! I adored Madeline’s previous work, so knew this new version SUNLAND would be phenomenal, and I was right! Alicia is incredibly talented with marketing, so knew she was ideal to have onboard in the producing team, and following that, we launched casting and director call outs; and the rest is history!
Being a fringe festival, we all know sets have to be bare minimum, how have you got around this with your set and props?
MC: I have big plans for what I eventually hope this show looks like (It may or may not involve a revolve, real sand, and a moat of water surrounding the set) but for the time being, we are bringing this world to life with simply four deck chairs and a cloth. Having worked on many fringe shows in the past, I always find that you surprise yourself directorially by how much you can manage to conjure up even with so little.
What has been the biggest challenge in realising the writer’s vision for the show?
MC: It may sound like a cop-out answer, but the biggest challenge in bringing Sunland to life has been that the text is so multilayered and emotionally complex that there are simply so many different ways any one line can be delivered. Having to make the decision on which version of each scene serves the overall story best has been an ever-moving target, but one I’m so excited to eventually hit.
Are there any plans for what comes next after the show has finished its run – for you or the show?
MC: As of now, I hope to grow with SUNLAND as Maddy continues to make edits to the script and allows it to evolve over the coming months. I believe in this play, this team, and this story so much, and I plan to keep directing it in its various iterations for as long as the team wants me to.
I directed both the 5-star production A Stan is Born!, (once finishing its international tour, it will be returning to Edinburgh Fringe for the second year running); and Kate Coulson’s one-woman show Lioness, which won this year’s Keep It Fringe Award. I am also staging my own play How to Write a Risk Assessment and directing the second run of my works Inferna at The Space from 14-25 October.
GD: In the short term, we really want to find a lovely London home for SUNLAND in a larger scale run as it deserves, but equally want to share the story across the UK as regionally as possible. In the long term, hopefully the National, Broadway and beyond!
If your show had a soundtrack what songs would definitely be on it?
MC: “To Someone from a Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe)” by Hozier.
A song about heat, coldness, and the things we do to find warmth in a harsh world. “Uiscefhuarithe” is Irish for “the feeling of something made cold by water,” and the emotions at play in this song — the desperation for a climate, a temperature different from the one they have — are beautifully encapsulated in Sunland.
MW: SUNLAND has such a blistering energy about it that I think Rabble Rouser by Enter Shikari has to be there. Distant Past by Everything Everything too, and there’s a certain dynamic in SUNLAND that reminds me of True Blue by boygenius. I also listened to a LOT of Caroline Shaw while writing it.
If you could perform this show anywhere in the world where would it be?
MC: Not to be the most predicable director in the whole of the UK, but I would love to do this show at the National Theatre, ideally in the Dorfman. The NT is the pinnacle of British theatrical excellence in my opinion, and this show I think fits perfectly with that ethos. Madeline Whitby deserves to join the ranks of incredible playwrights whose work has been performed there.
MW: I would love to see it performed outdoors – especially in a warm climate. I don’t have a specific venue in mind, but I’d love to take it to somewhere on the coast too.
GD: I’d love to see what it would be like to take SUNLAND to a real life beach resort in a tropical climate, creating an immersive production!
What is the weirdest or most unconventional prop used in your show?
MW: The Thai baht notes are pretty unconventional I think? It’s weird – I was reading Capitalist Realism for a different project and noticed that money makes its way into most plays in some form or another. It’s very hard to envision a life that doesn’t revolve around money, and SUNLAND is so political in nature that I think it was inevitable.
GD: We have two sun loungers in the show and the sun shade visors has come in so handy and used in an unconventional way. Come see SUNLAND to find out how!
What words of advice/encouragement would you give anyone thinking about doing Camden Fringe next year?
GD: I strongly recommend assembling a brilliant creative team! The SUNLAND team are some of most extraordinary creative minds I could ever imagine working with. I would also advise that if you don’t ask, you don’t get! Without our brilliant Assistant Producer Alicia Gilmartin, we would not have secured sponsorship which has been invaluable for our world-building of SUNLAND. We are very grateful to you Forza Wine!
Our thanks to the team for taking the time to chat.
SUNLAND plays at Lion and Unicorn Theatre for Camden Fringe on Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 July.
