Christine Fang on Stunted at 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.
The private spaces we share with our closest friends are often built on a strange cocktail of deep affection, brutal honesty, and borderline-gross habits. It’s a level of comfort that is as beautiful as it is entirely unhinged.
Coming to Camden People’s Theatre this August for Camden Fringe 2026, Stunted drags that unfiltered private world kicking and screaming into the spotlight. Produced by Double Fang Stories, this bold, intimate, and unapologetically candid new play dives into the absurdity of contemporary relationships and the desperate ways we try to connect.
We sat down with creator and writer Christine Fang to chat about rewriting endings based on personal ugliness, why the audience breathing with the actors is the ultimate form of success, and how a hair advice comment locked in a Jackie Chan biopic casting choice.
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?
Let’s take how candid, gross, bold, intimate, and mean we can be in private spaces with our loved ones and play ping pong with it on stage.
Why is 2026 the absolute perfect time for this show to be seen?
I think we’re all trying desperately to relate to one another, even with those we’re supposed to be closest to. Maybe if we can laugh at the absurdity of intimacy, we might also take a moment to reflect on our own relationships and leave paying a little more attention to those connections.
Is this final version how you originally envisioned the piece, or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
With each draft, there was for sure an increase in the physical journey for these two housemates, and a shared physical comfort on stage. Also, the current denouement (the final resolution) is entirely different from the first draft! Two-thirds of the way through this process, I had to get super honest with myself about my own ugliness (and foolishness), and that completely changed the ending.
What does “success” look like for you this August, beyond just selling out ticket allocations?
Success is the feeling of the audience breathing with us on stage, the need to pause for the sound of live laughter, and the audience being involved and curious enough to come up after the curtain falls and pose questions to us.
Who would play you in the Hollywood adaptation of your future autobiography?
Jackie Chan. Because a stylish gay friend once dissuaded me from cutting my hair off by saying I’ll resemble Jackie Chan, so we’ll definitely have a massive wig budget for this biopic!
If you could perform this show anywhere else in the world, where would it be and why?
In the home of Tina Fey, so she could punch up the script a bit and produce a movie version of it, following that exact Mean Girls to Mean Girls The Musical to Mean Girls The Musical The Movie trajectory.
Are there any future plans for Stunted once your Camden Fringe run wraps up?
There are little Easter eggs about queer culture in Los Angeles sprinkled throughout this play, so I’d absolutely love to take it there next. Hi Tops!
Fringe theatre requires keeping production elements to the bare minimum. What’s the weirdest or most unconventional prop used in your show?
My own laptop (shhhhh). Because unfortunately, and thank goodness, money doesn’t grow on trees!
What words of advice or encouragement would you give to anyone thinking about taking the leap into Camden Fringe next year?
Gather a group of creatives you’d want to spend a lot of time being uncertain with. Ask people from different walks of life to read your script and rip it apart. Just kidding! But yes, ask them to share their brutally honest feedback. Really consider your budget, and then add a bit of a cushion, if possible!
Many thanks to Christine for chatting with us all the way from the States. You can catch Stunted when it makes its way to Camden People’s Theatre on 9, 10, 16 and 17 August.
