Scott Robinson on Bringing Edgar A. Poe’s Last Call to Camden People’s Theatre
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.
October 1849. Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, wearing clothes that do not belong to him, slipping rapidly between reality, memory, and the gothic nightmares of his own making.
Arriving at the Camden People’s Theatre this August for Camden Fringe 2026, Edgar A. Poe’s Last Call turns this historic, haunting mystery into an intense, deeply immersive theatrical experience. Produced by RFI Media Productions and starring Scott Robinson, the show rejects modern technical gimmicks in favor of raw, unfiltered human connection. It explores the extreme edge of a genius mind unspooling, finding surprising pockets of humor amidst the gloom. We caught up with Scott to talk about channeling Poe’s fierce battle over copyright, trading digital projections for piles of parchment, and why the ultimate success is rocking the world of someone dragged to a poetry show.
If you had to describe the vibe of your show in just one sentence, what would it be and how does it manifest on stage?
Edgar A. Poe’s Last Call is a haunting, poetic, immersive experience, inspired by Edgar’s mysterious death where the audience finds itself with the poetic genius as he pleads sanity, relates his most haunting and beautiful work, and sometimes squares off with the room to figure out who the other really is.
Why is 2026 the absolute perfect time for this show to be seen?
Now is the time to appreciate the human genius, beauty, and pain created strictly with quill, ink, human imagination, and lived experience. Much of the art we see today has been created somewhere within the context of “machine creation”, either intentionally included or purposefully excluded. Edgar was a fierce advocate for strong national and international copyright laws, which is a massive hot-button topic in today’s world. His work is also vital to see just how far “off-center” a human mind can be and still create amazing work.
Has the show changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
It has changed drastically! Originally, there were to be a lot of video projections. Now there are none; a lot less tech and a lot more raw audience connection. This gives the audience an opportunity to experience the poetry and the story in a pure, tactile way they might not have in the past.
What is something that has surprised you most about stepping into Poe’s shoes?
Humour! Lots of human-level humour. People forget that he is just a person having a very bad, final day… who happens to be a genius. A mad genius. Examining Eddie’s life gives audiences the ability to see how trauma impacts a person, not necessarily for “good,” but that beauty can be created and endure. Like irritation and sand are needed to make a pearl.
How challenging has this solo performance been for you?
This role has been very challenging! All the feels!!! Feeling feels that I didn’t even know a person could feel, a truly deep range of human emotion. Trying to convey that to an audience with passion and truth is both challenging and rewarding.
Fringe festivals require minimal staging. how have you transformed the space?
We haven’t yet! 😬 We are leaning into using audio as much as possible to let the story shine while relying on a pared-down set, using only a pile of parchment to tell the tale.
The story centers on a character experiencing different realities at once; remembering scenes from his past, characters from his poems, and having an out-of-body experience while lying unconscious in Baltimore. To keep it from getting bogged down in facts, the audience just has to “go on the ride.” The hope is that at the end of the show, they will witness an amazing expression of eternal love. ❤️💔
How central is audience interaction to this fever dream?
The human connection is everything. More than anything, Poe was human. In his psychotic state, sometimes he sees the audience as his characters, sometimes as people he used to know, and sometimes as an audience gathered to hear poetry.
What does “success” look like for you this August, beyond a sold-out run?
The person who was dragged to see the show by a friend coming up afterward and saying, “Wow, that poem completely rocked my world.” That would be a huge success.
If you had to describe your show as a color and a bar drink, what are we looking at?
Color: Black. Because even in the darkest color, there are shades of light. And, well… Ravens.
Drink: 2oz Single Malt Whisky, 1/2oz of Woe, a splash of Macabre, and garnished with an orange peel.
What is the most unconventional element that worked its way into the show?
In our Brooklyn run, our Stage Manager had a crazy good scream… so we just incorporated it right into the middle of the show!
Many thanks to Scott for the chat. You will find Edgar A Poe’s Last Call at Camden People’s Theatre between Tuesday 11 and Saturday 15 August.
