Housing Horror, Vampire Fan-Fiction, and London in Your Twenties

Velvet Productions on I’ll Kill For This Place

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.

As Camden Fringe is set to get underway tomorrow (3 August), Velvet Productions brings a razor-sharp new horror-comedy to the Etcetera Theatre stage. Written by Laura Berni and directed by Eleanor Kumar, I’d Kill for This Place takes a bloody, hilarious stab at the modern housing crisis.

When basic milestones like finding an affordable place to live feel utterly impossible, four friends in London discover that the real monster in the property market might not be the vampire in their living room.

We caught up with writer Laura Berni, director Eleanor Kumar, and the cast; Rhianna Jarrett (Meg), Nat Easton (Finn), Lauren Summers (Riley), and Amethyst Stafford-Wells (Jade), to talk about turning real-life housing anxiety into cathartic comedy.

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?

Laura: It’s a horror-comedy about the housing crisis where the real monster might not be the vampire. On stage, it’s full of quick-fire banter, fake blood, and the kind of chaos that comes from four friends trying to survive London in their twenties.

Why is 2026 the absolute perfect time for this show to be seen?

Laura: It feels like we’re living in a time where the things that should be basic, like having somewhere safe to live, feeling financially secure, or imagining a future, have started to feel completely out of reach for a lot of young people. I’d Kill for This Place takes that feeling and turns it into something funny, bloody, and cathartic.

What was the “eureka moment” that made you realise this story had to be told right now?

Laura: I kept hearing people say, “I’d kill for a flat like that,” and one day I thought… what if someone actually did? That tiny joke snowballed into a play about friendship, survival, and the absurd reality of trying to find somewhere to live.

Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?

Laura: It’s stayed surprisingly close to my original vision! The heart of the story has always been the same, but every rehearsal and round of feedback has helped sharpen the characters, the comedy, and the emotional beats.

What was it that drew the cast to this show and these characters?

Lauren (Riley): The show is such a fantastic concept, and the script balances comedy and genuine emotion in a really clever way. Despite the absurdity of the story, the characters feel incredibly real and relatable. Riley immediately stood out to me because she’s witty and fun, but also a very loyal friend.

Rhianna (Meg): I really love working with Laura and Eleanor, so when the opportunity appeared, I jumped at the chance! Playing a vampire in a super modern setting sounded like a really fun playground. I’ve not played a vampire before and it’s something I’m really excited to sink my teeth into; pun intended!

Amethyst (Jade): I’m a vampire fiction lover, anything horror and/or vampire-themed and I’m in. There’s a scene in the script I got to read early on where Jade says, “All those years I spent reading vampire fan-fiction finally make sense”, it made me cackle! I knew immediately that she was my girl. Hate to out myself here, but like Jade, I was definitely on Wattpad…

Nat (Finn): The narrative’s original and quite relatable; students who are all skint and trying to find a house to live in. We’ve all been there, so I was very drawn to that aspect. The script allows for lots of room to try out different things. I always enjoy reading a script and finding that the character has room to mess about or adapt in different scenarios.

What is it about your characters that you most enjoy playing?

Rhianna: I love that Meg is literally just your average 20-something girlie pop, but also she drinks blood and has fangs. It’s a really fun dynamic to play with; the normal mixed with the absurd!

Amethyst: Just her! There’s definitely a part of Jade that I recognise in myself. There’s a wonderful ridiculousness and flamboyance about her that I just love to play around with. It’s so much fun to get to really lean into this away-with-the-fairies, whimsical drama queen character… Like girl, being a vegan is where you draw the line??

Nat: Finn is unique, he is sassy yet has wholesome moments in him. There are numerous ways in which one could play him. He’s got flaws, but he also holds the group together in many ways too. Developing his character has been wicked.

Lauren: Riley is super fun to play. She’s outspoken on the surface, but as the play progresses, we start to see the vulnerability underneath. I’ve really enjoyed finding the balance between her two sides and working out the dynamics of her friendships.

What is the “secret sauce” that makes your group dynamic work?

Eleanor (Director): Genuinely creating an environment that cares for one another, and not just in the general “let’s do a check-in” way. By that I mean: creating the time to get to know each other, finding out how people work best, trying each other’s ideas, using language that respects and uplifts one another, and putting in the work to lock in when we need to. And of course, having fun! But that’s the easy part.

If you had to describe your show as a colour and a meal, what would they be?

Laura: Colour: Red. Because it’s impossible to ignore. It’s messy, bold, a little bit dangerous and, by the end of the play, it’s everywhere.

Meal: A rare steak. Bloody, messy, and best shared with friends.

What does “success” look like for you this August, beyond just selling tickets?

Eleanor: Success to me is an amalgamation of things, not just the end result (although we plan to make that great too!). This project is already doing so many things: getting new writing out there, introducing creatives to one another, facilitating a place to learn and grow, and fuelling future work and opportunities.

Every rehearsal is filled with a room full of people who, amidst their full-time jobs and life commitments, are present and committed to creating something together. That is no small feat, especially in times like these. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of and, to me, is a success in itself.

Many thanks to the whole team for their time. I’d Kill for this Place will play at Etcetera Theatre on Monday 24 (5pm and 9pm) and Tuesday 25 August (1pm).