GAMEPLAY to Make World Premiere at Edinburgh Fringe From Carmen Collective

Carmen Collective will return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer with the world premiere of GAMEPLAY: an audio-described myth for the end times, possibly featuring Daily Mail theatre critic Quentin Letts. The company brings its latest formally adventurous work to Pleasance Dome from August 5–31.

GAMEPLAY is the newest collaboration between acclaimed theatre-maker Sam Rees and internationally renowned sound artist AJ Turner, whose previous work includes FAMEHUNGRY, This Is How We Die, and collaborations with NYX.

Part performance experiment, part cultural hallucination and part apocalyptic fable, GAMEPLAY hurtles across centuries—from ancient mythology to contemporary media panic to speculative futures—asking how we continue performing ourselves while the world burns around us.

Combining immersive sound design, fractured storytelling, integrated audio description and Carmen Collective's signature blend of wit, political provocation and theatrical invention, the production promises a visceral and unpredictable Fringe experience.

Writer and performer Sam Rees said: "Last year, Keir Starmer said the UK was on a war footing. GAMEPLAY comes out of that atmosphere, the creeping sense that Something Terrible Is About To Happen. It's a show about Vasili Arkhipov, the Soviet naval officer who could have blown up the world and chose not to, but it's also a show about what going to the theatre means in 2026: how we think, listen and make meaning together in a moment of permacrisis.

"Through intense collaboration with Part Of The Main and Roz Chalmers, audio description has been integrated into the very DNA of the piece itself, creating a work that refuses to privilege sight over the other senses. We are incredibly excited to debut this bold and intense new piece at Edinburgh in association with Pleasance and Camden People's Theatre."

GAMEPLAY was initially developed through Camden People's Theatre's prestigious Starting Blocks programme, whose alumni include leading experimental artists and companies such as Louise Orwin, Rachel Mars and piss/CARNATION.

Carmen Collective returns to Edinburgh following the breakout success of Lessons on Revolution, which was named one of The Scotsman's Best Shows of the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Cast and Creative Team

The creative team includes writer and performer Sam Rees, sound designer and performer AJ Turner, creative producer Ella Dale, dramaturg Rio Matchett, access consultant Sam Brewer, lighting designer Euan Jackson, and audio description consultants Part Of The Main and Roz Chalmers.

Performance Information

GAMEPLAY will run from August 5–31, 2026, with no performance on August 17. Performances begin at 2:40 p.m. at Pleasance Dome (Dome 10). The production is recommended for audiences ages 12 and up.

Content Warnings

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