Camden People's Theatre's CALM DOWN DEAR Festival Returns

Existing in safe spaces, public spaces and outer space in this year's Calm Down, Dear. The feminist festival returns to Camden People's Theatre and will be curated for the first time by Figs in Wigs

Camden People's Theatre, 24 May - 11 June

Guest Night: Wednesday 26 May Cheer Up Love (it might never happen)

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, DIY sperm banks, pole dancing comedians and personal experiences of vaginisimus will all feature in this year's feminist festival at Camden People's Theatre. The festival is being curated for the first time by genre-bending female-led performance company Figs In Wigs, who performed at the festival's first outing back in 2013. This year's programme spans intimate bathroom-based theatre to the vastness of space, from the past of 500 years of violence against women to a future where all men have become extinct.

Now in its ninth year, Calm Down, Dear is one of Camden People Theatre's flagship festivals, showcasing some of the most exciting and innovative work exploring all forms of feminism. Highlights include Curfew, commissioned by CPT, which explores the sad, frightening, funny, and hopeful verbatim experiences of women and non binary people in public spaces at night. Meanwhile, Mummy Vs uncovers the guilt & parenting tropes in modern Britain told through the personal experiences of one unlikely parent. Returning to Calm Down, Dear in film form after being shared at the 2019 festival, Your Pink mixes classical references from Greek mythology and fairytales with the modern world of Instagram, pop music & #MeToo.

The three-week festival will bring together new work which celebrates the most political, radical and feminist self-made performance, with past hits including Louise Orwin's Pretty Ugly (2013), Sh!t Theatre's Women's Hour (2014), Snuffbox Theatre's Blush (2016), and Racheal Ofori's So Many Reasons (2018).

Guest curators Figs in Wigs said, "We are so excited for this festival! There is such a huge range of form and content from a talented array of performers. We are so excited and no, we won't calm down about it! We performed our graduate show, We, Object at the first EVER Calm Down Dear Festival back in 2013. The sharing offered us an opportunity to further explore our idea and take risks in innovative ways that we might not elsewhere, safe in the knowledge that we were presenting to our peers and a wider network of artists working within similar contexts (and concepts) to us. There was a freedom and an understanding that this was a space in which to experiment. We absolutely cannot wait to see these amazing artists who will be performing in the 9th edition of Calm Down Dear Festival."

Camden People's Theatre executive director Nicola Clements said "London feels well overdue for a boost of anarchic not-theatre-theatre and this year's Calm Down, Dear does not disappoint. Our first ever guest curators Figs in Wigs have infused our programme with a fizzy concoction of minty fresh feminism and sharp performance experiments. We're a long way from seeing theatre recover from the effects of the pandemic and CPT is committed to holding space for our artists to take risks and tell urgent stories about the world today - now more than ever, we need audiences to come with us. Whether you are fired up by feminism or fed up with it, or even if you just want to keep theatre alive so we can keep having the conversation, the best thing you can do is buy a ticket. Or four.

Founded 28 years ago, Camden People's Theatre is one of Britain's most influential studio theatres. Its mission is to champion different ways of thinking about the world by supporting emerging artists making adventurous theatre - particularly about issues that matter to people now. Its work is rooted in the communities of Camden and London. Through it, they celebrate the bold, the spirited and the unconventional.

Figs in Wigs are a UK based female led performance company. For the last 10 years they have been making epic, genre-bending performance that sits somewhere in between live art, music, theatre, comedy and dance. They make work collaboratively with a DIY approach - they write, direct, choreograph, compose and perform all of their creative output.Their work is recklessly joyful, highly visual and unashamedly revels in tackiness and trashiness. With an irreverent sense of humour they use puns, bad jokes and pop culture references to charm and disarm audiences of all ages.

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