Lucy Potter on Thieves in Satin at The Cockpit
After the success of our 2025 Camden Fringe Interviews, we thought it only right to attempt a repeat for 2026. So throughout July we’ll be publishing new interviews each day to give a taste of what to expect from London’s best fringe theatre festival. The festival starts Monday 3 August this year, so we may give ourselves a couple of days off inbetween the end of the interviews and the first shows… then again, we might not.
You can find out more about Camden Fringe, along with details of every show playing this August here. You can also find all of this year’s interviews as they are published here.
Before modern surveillance, high-tech security tags, and digital tracking, London’s West End department stores were plundered by an incredibly organised, highly stylish syndication of criminal masterminds. They wore the finest silks, blended into high society, and altered their custom-tailored garments to conceal a fortune in stolen luxury goods. They were the Forty Elephants, London’s notorious, all-female shoplifting gang.
This August, Moving Stories Dance Company brings their exhilarating story to life at The Cockpit for Camden Fringe 2026 with Thieves in Satin. Blending a cast of ten professional dancers, live narration, and a genre-defying soundtrack, the production tracks these cunning women through the hedonism of the 1920s, the hardships of prison, and the devastating rubble of the Blitz.
We spoke with director, choreographer, and lead performer Lucy Potter to explore the uncanny parallels between the 1920s and 2026, the company’s “secret sauce,” and the controversial stage prop that keeps audiences talking.
If you had to describe the vibe of Thieves in Satin in just one sentence, what would it be?
The vibe of the show is a dangerous and little-known underworld hidden beneath the facade of hedonistic 1920s glamour and decadence.
Why does the landscape of 2026 make this the perfect moment to explore the history of the Forty Elephants?
The Forty Elephant gang were in their absolute heyday in the 1920s, when London was a vibrant city of sharp contrasts, bearing a striking resemblance to the socioeconomic landscape we see today. Back then, there was severe economic strain left over from World War I, a long recovery period in the aftermath of the Spanish Flu epidemic, and widespread industrial unrest in the form of General Strikes.
Yet, as well as being a time of great social friction, it was also a period of massive technical advances, seeing the rapid birth of the motor car, commercial cinema, and an unprecedented wave of women’s independence. People actively sought escape and release from the poverty and hardship that had fallen upon them. 2026 is the perfect time to dive back into the little-known lives of these women, who did whatever it took to survive and build a life for themselves against all odds.
You balance a double life on this production as the show’s creator and its star. Tell us about your character.
As well as being the Director and Choreographer of the show, I play the role of Lilian, known historically as “The Bobbed-Haired Bandit.” Of our three central criminal leaders, Lilian is the most carefree and was completely renowned for evading capture. The police repeatedly thought they finally had her in their sights, only to discover it was a classic case of mistaken identity!
Lilian delights in playing her role as a “smash-and-grab” thief, moving through life as if she is a glamorous movie star. One of my favorite moments on stage is when Lilian blackmails a local Doctor while wearing little more than her bloomers and a fur coat! But rest assured, absolutely no real furs are used in this production.
The costume design must be an incredibly complex undertaking for a fringe budget. How did you manage it?
While the costumes are an absolute feast for the eyes, with over 40 distinct costumes shared between our cast, our small fringe budget meant that we sourced nearly all our items sustainably from second-hand and charity shops.
Clothing was actually the most important tactical factor in the Forty Elephant gang’s method of shoplifting. These women would custom-alter their everyday clothes to expertly conceal stolen luxury goods in massive additional hidden pockets and structured underwear. They would deliberately dress in the most elegant fashions of the day so as to fit in with the upper classes and never arouse suspicion while browsing high-end department stores.
What kind of soundscape accompanies the heist?
Our show already features a fabulous, highly eclectic soundtrack ranging from the brassy, iconic tracks of Shirley Bassey to vintage-flipped Postmodern Jukebox arrangements, all the way to modern, moody tracks by Billie Eilish.
If your show was a drink at the venue bar, what would be the ingredients?
It would definitely have to be a gin based cocktail but make that several as there are so many colourful characters in this show!…….. Here’s one to represent each of our leading ladies :
Alice Diamond – ‘The Holloway’ – Gin, Lime, soda, ice ….the women would party hard after a spell in Holloway Prison but they always looked after each other’s families whilst inside as per ‘The Hoister’s Code’.
Baby Faced Maggie – ‘Maggies’s Blinder’ – Gin, martini, which would be topped with an olive on the end a cocktail stick to represent a hat pin. 4’8” Maggie was a heavy drinker and was known to have blinded someone with a hat pin!
Lilian The Bobbed Haired Bandit – ‘The Bangin’ Bandit’ – Muff gin, wet vermouth and a glacé cherry, in honour of her partner in crime, ‘Ruby’ Sparks
What’s the weirdest or most unconventional prop used in the show?
That would probably have to be a detached mannequin arm! It is all part of the criminal plot and heavily based on our real historical research and actual police scenarios… but I can’t say any more than that without giving away too much of the story! I will say it has easily been the “most complained about” prop in the rehearsal room. And I bet you didn’t know there is an actual place in Lincolnshire that houses a massive collection of over 15,000 used mannequins and miscellaneous body parts!
Moving Stories Dance Company boasts an ensemble of ten. What is the secret to keeping that group dynamic working so effectively?
Our company totals a couple of centuries in collective professional experience! We work purely as a unified team, with each player contributing to the production in far more ways than just their physical performance on stage. Everyone pitches in with admin, marketing, costume making, sourcing and building props, and scriptwriting. We all love what we do and value the collaborative creative process even more now that we have long, successful careers behind us.
What is the best piece of career advice you leaned on while directing this piece?
I must quote a famous movie director who was once asked what definitive advice he would give to directors starting out in the industry: “Know your craft, surround yourself with the best team you possibly can, and for god’s sake, entertain!”
That is our guiding principle. If nothing else, I can absolutely promise our audience they will most definitely be entertained this August.
Many thanks to Lucy for finding the time to chat with us. You will find Thieves in Satin playing at The Cockpit for one performance only on Sunday 16 August.
You can read more about the company on their website here.
