It Happened To Me, Upstairs at the Gatehouse
The Camden Fringe 2025 interviews are still coming thick and fast. With over 400 shows happening at this year’s festival, we’re trying to give you a real taste of what’s on offer for the four week’s of the festival. New interviews will be published every day of July, you can find them all here.
The name Peter Lawford certainly rings a faint bell to some of us, a name we might vaguely recognise but that most of us won’t be able toplace why. Chilling Out Productions and Peter Briffa are now hoping to change that as they bring It Happened To Me to Upstairs at the Gatehouse for this year’s festival (playing 6 to 9 August, tickets here).
We caught up with Peter to find out just who Lawford was, and why he wanted to create a story about his life.
What can audiences expect from the show?
It’s a one man show about a guy who was once hugely famous, yet is now all but forgotten, His best friend was Frank Sinatra, he was the last person to speak to Marilyn Monroe before her death, and his brother in law was none other than the President Kennedy.
Yet by the time he was sixty, Peter Lawford was an alcoholic, thrice-married recluse. His was an amazing story, yet there has only been one biography about him. Slagged off and shunned by most of his peers, It Happened To Me is his side of the story. Packed with extraordinary anecdotes, funny and sad, you will leave the theatre astounded that you knew so little about him.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
This is the play’s debut, and is showing here because the great thing about the Camden Fringe, and this is my fourth production here, is that pretty much much anything goes. This is the place where you can experiment, try things out, and so the audience never quite knows what it is going to get.
What was your inspiration behind the show?
A tweet by Ray Connolly, about Peter Lawford showing off his beach house to him, boasting that both John Lennon and Marilyn had slept there. That was interesting,
How long have you been working on the play?
A year and a half.
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
It has changed, but has become the play it always wanted to be!
What brought you all together?
I wrote the play, thinking all along that Jonny Hansler, who I first worked with twenty-nine years ago, would be the ideal actor to take this on. And I signed up Owain Rose to direct, having seen his recent work, and knowing that he had worked both at this theatre, and with Jonny before.
Being a fringe festival, we all know sets have to be bare minimum, how have you got around this with your set and props?
Good question! It’s got a bed and a desk, and a tennis racket and a mop. I hope we can get hold of all of them.
How important is audience interaction to you?
Vital. The audience dictate the pace and the humour. In a one person show, they are more critical than in other kind of performance,
Are there any plans for what comes next after the show has finished its run – for you or the show?
Nothing planned, but we certainly hope to take this around. One person plays are fashionable right now, and not just because they are cheaper to produce. I want this one to stand out, as it isn’t just a series of funny stories. This has a plot, and character conflict too.
Who would play you in the Hollywood adaptation of your future autobiography?
Tom Harry.
If you had to describe your show as a colour what would it be?
Grey. Black and white together.
If you had to describe your show as a meal what would it be?
A tandoori. Hits the spot.
If your show had a soundtrack what songs would definitely be on it?
My Way. A cliched, defiant number that Peter Lawford must surely have hated, by the end, but it is how he lived his life.
If you could perform this show anywhere in the world where would it be?
Santa Monica. Because it’s all about Hollywood.
What is the weirdest or most unconventional prop used in your show?
Tennis racket. Lawford wanted to be a tennis player when young, but injured his hand and had to settle for acting.
If budget or reality was not an issue, what’s the one piece of scenery/set you’d love to have in your show?
I think we don’t need anything else!
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received during your career, and how has it influenced your work on this show?
All criticism is right, even when it’s wrong. That is, whoever is saying it won’t be the only one to think it.
What words of advice/encouragement would you give anyone thinking about doing Camden Fringe next year?
Do it. However badly it goes, and I’ve had my share of bad times, it’s better than not trying.
Is there a question missing that you feel we should be asking you?
If you were a tree, what tree would you be?
Many thanks to Peter for taking the time to tell us about the show. It Happened To Me will play at Upstairs at the Gatehouse from Wednesday 6 to Saturday 9 August.
