Hampstead Road’s pioneering arts theatre is currently celebrating a quarter-century of experimental productions.
Since its inception in 1994 – when a group of locals took on the Camden Council-owned venue in order to create an affordable space for local theatre – CPT has been a stalwart of the capital’s independent theatre scene. It has proved a necessary incubator for writers, performers, fledgling theatre companies.
Camden Roar is the centrepiece of these celebrations – a three-week festival is by, for and about Camden and its people. Yay.
The short season kicks off with hip-hop theatre show called High Rise Estate of Mind, which draws on young people’s fears and insecurities about government policies and social housing (7th-11th May).
Elsewhere is Tom Marshman’s King’s Cross Remix, a fascinating sounding docu-theatre show uncovering the hidden histories of LGBTQ communities in 1980s London (21st–25th May).
Headlining is the in-house production Human Jam (runs 7th-25th May). It explores HS2’s exhumation of 60,000 bodies in St. James’ Gardens.
“What is so interesting about this show,” explains artistic director Brian Logan, who is researching, writing and piecing the play together, “is that it is not just to do with the thousands of bodies buried just up the road, but also do to with the felling of 100-year-old trees and, crucially, local people losing their homes. It is a multipartite campaign.”