LIV: Sapphic Shakespeare, Old Red Lion Theatre & Hen and Chickens Theatre
We plow on with our Camden Fringe 2025 interviews as we aim to give you a healthy taster of what’s to come when the festival opens on 28 July. Every day of July we’re publishing new interviews, so do keep coming back to see how close to our target we can get. You can find all our thos already published here.
The Old Red Lion Theatre are doing something a little different this year for Camden Fringe, and hosting a festival within a festival with SHAKEFEST, their celebration of all things Shakespeare. As part of this, Tanieth Kerr will be bringing LIV: Sapphic Shakespeare there on 5 and 6 August, before moving on to The Hen and Chickens Theatre for three nights from 17 August, tickets here.
We caught up with Tanieth to find out more about their show and why a giant tombstone is their ultimate aim.
What can audiences expect from the show?
LIV: Sapphic Shakespeare is a retelling of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare – a reimagining where the two heroines Olivia and Viola fall in love with each other. Written in the style of Shakespeare (with a few of his good lines thrown in!), the play tackles loss and dealing with grief while having to live a public life, love and coming to understand and accept your queerness.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
Camden will be its third fringe after Brighton in May and Buxton in July! It’s almost the middle of the fringe tour as we are heading to Guildford and possibly another fringe after that!
What was your inspiration behind the show?
Twelfth Night was my favourite Shakespeare play for a long time, and I have always thought that Olivia and Viola had a lot more in common with each other than the people they end up with. I saw a production of Twelfth Night last year at the RSC and so I started asking myself what if: “what if Orsino’s pursuit wasn’t honourable, what if Olivia was set to inherit a high position in the public eye and what would happen then if Viola fell for Olivia and Olivia loved her back?” and the play just sort of fell out of me.
How long have you been working on the play?
I saw the RSC production in December 2024, and I had the first draft by the end of January 2025. So it was a really quick turn around. I contacted Katy Livsey (Director) and by February we had a plan!
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
It is the spitting image of my original idea in some aspects and improved spectacularly in others! That’s what I love about working with Katy and Beth – it really feels like the collaboration lets so many different ideas bloom.
What brought you all together?
There are three people in the company – Beth Birss, Katy Livsey and I. We all graduated from the same university in 2020. Putting LIV together has been a project that has had us Zooming from three different corners of the UK and each of us will be navigating our jobs and lives to bring it to life.
Katy and I worked on my one person show HEADACHE last year, taking it to Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe. After I realised that LIV was what I wanted to put on next, I brought it to Katy and she agreed to direct and Beth came onboard after that as the final cast member.
Being a fringe festival, we all know sets have to be bare minimum, how have you got around this with your set and props?
The biggest set piece we have is a tomb stone – we wanted to make sure it was collapsible and compact, so it is made up of four grey collapsible boxes with a detachable cross.
How important is audience interaction to you?
We have had some really great reactions to the play – along with a few tears, there were a few laughs and in the style of Shakespeare there are a few moments in the ‘asides’ that I get to do that has a great opening for connection between the stage and the audience, which is really exciting.
Are there any plans for what comes next after the show has finished its run – for you or the show?
We are heading to Guildford Fringe for a one night performance (more info here) and we are hopeful for another towards the end of the year!
If your show had a soundtrack what songs would definitely be on it?
Hot To Go and Guilty Pleasure by Chappell Roan, my tears ricochet by Taylor Swift and Better Boyfriend by Dove Cameron because… well you will have to come and see the show to find out!
If budget or reality was not an issue, what’s the one piece of scenery/set you’d love to have in your show?
We would love to have a larger tomb stone with the ability to climb over it. That doesn’t make much sense if you haven’t seen the show but it would be an amazing set piece to have!
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received during your career, and how has it influenced your work on this show?
Just get it out there! Do it! That great idea you have in your head, write it and just get it on its feet. Art is so important, your art isn’t going to be done by anyone but you.
Thanks to Tanieth for the chat. LIV: Sapphic Shakespeare will be playing at Old Red Lion Theatre on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 August then then at the Hen and Chickens Theatre from Sunday 17 to Tuesday 19 August.
