{"id":88118,"date":"2026-07-22T13:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T13:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/88118\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T13:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T13:08:13","slug":"how-londons-creative-scene-helped-me-take-my-show-to-the-fringe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/88118\/","title":{"rendered":"How London’s Creative Scene Helped Me Take My Show To The Fringe"},"content":{"rendered":"

As she prepares to take her show, Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century, up from London to the dizzying heights of the Edinburgh Fringe<\/a>, actor and Country & Town House Senior Account Director Olive McHugh looks back on the journey that led her there \u2013 including how the play was forged in the crucible of London itself.<\/p>\n

An Actor\u2019s Love Letter To London Ahead Of The Fringe<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a member of the \u2018Creatives in London\u2019 WhatsApp group, but this is still how we were catapulted together. When singer and fellow creative Yasmin Hass sent the casting call my way, neither of us expected the outcome (despite the key characteristic being deeply resonant to me: \u2018almost painfully middle class\u2019). There, I would connect with Dale Robertson, my soon-to-be writer\/director and creative tag teamer.<\/p>\n

Dale wrote Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century with a ticking clock behind him: he needed to secure his global talent visa to stay in London. And so, as what could have been his final act in London, he was determined to craft an ode to this incredible city, along with the amazing people who made it home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along the way, I began to compile my own love letter to London: to the locations and people who helped to bring this show to life \u2013 and to transfer it to the world famous Edinburgh Fringe. If you\u2019d like to see where all these roads in London eventually led, Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century <\/a>is playing at Gilded Balloon Patter House throughout the festival (5\u201331 August, excluding 17 August). We\u2019d love to see you there.<\/p>\n

Soho Theatre, Dean Street<\/p>\n

If there is one place that reminds you where going to Edinburgh Fringe can eventually lead you it\u2019s Soho Theatre<\/a>. This was the initial home for Fringe transfers such as Jordan Gray<\/a>, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Richard Gadd<\/a> and most recently, the next one to watch, Jade Franks. Soho Theatre is the beating heart of London\u2019s Fringe Theatre scene. Attending a show at Soho Theatre is the easiest way to rekindle any faded inspiration. For me, this happened in a heart beat when watching Jade Franks\u2019 Eat The Rich (But maybe not me mates x), a side splittingly funny and razor sharp portrayal of the class divide in this country, told through Franks\u2019 own experience of attending the University of Cambridge. From Dale writing some of the show here to catch up production meetings and our ongoing manifestations of transferring here, thank you Soho Theatre for constantly being a warm reminder of community, comedy and the joy of sitting in a room full of strangers, laughing.<\/p>\n

\"Olive\"Olive<\/p>\n

Petunia\u2019s fabulous coat was found on Portobello Road. (Olive as Petunia in Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century.)<\/p>\n

Portobello Road, Notting Hill<\/p>\n

Broke & Fabulous follows Alex and Petunia, two larger-than-life best friends navigating the difficulties of following one\u2019s dreams and the compromises we sometimes have to make when living in London. But one thing they refuse to ever compromise on is being fabulous. Creating the costumes for these characters was a focal part of the show \u2013 but of course on a shoe string budget. Working with our costume designer Roxanne Ivy (whose most recent work includes being Cynthia Eviro\u2019s dresser on her West End run of Dracula), we shopped for items on Portobello Road. This included digging for treasure at the incredible Lexie\u2019s stall, haggling at the market and picking up a coat from Rebecca Shamoon, the designer who created the signature coat Petunia wears in the play.<\/p>\n

Hampstead Ladies Ponds, Hampstead Heath<\/p>\n

Arriving at the Ladies Pond after a pilgrimage across the city is like arriving at a female oasis. It\u2019s a place that brings me zen amid the madness of putting on the show \u2013 a reminder that one\u2019s stresses (will we ever secure additional posters near our venue? Will we ever break even?) are never as mad as they seem. Swimming amongst gossiping women, mother ducks and ducklings and the formidable regular swimmers all for the price of \u00a35 is the perfect tonic for a week that\u2019s felt a little out of hand.<\/p>\n

\"Olive\"Olive<\/p>\n

Olive and Dale rehearsing in Milk Beach.<\/p>\n

Lonsdale Road, Queen\u2019s Park<\/p>\n

Queen\u2019s Park has been an epicentre of Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century, mainly thanks to Elliot Milne, founder of Aussie restaurant and bar Milk Beach<\/a>. Created in this leafy corner of North West London, Milk Beach has since moved to Soho, but the original Queen\u2019s Park restaurant was our rehearsal home last year. We would meet there in the evenings, once the restaurant had closed. Without Elliot\u2019s generosity, we could never have made the show. From shooting our trailer as our videographer hung out the back of a moving car with employees on their lunch break to the Gen Z waitstaff giving us a strict talking to on how we need to up our social media game, Elliot and the entire family at Milk Beach were a constant support system for us. The Queen\u2019s Park restaurant has now been transformed by Elliot into Bar Blondie<\/a>, a southern European-inspired wine bar, along with sommelier Alexandra Price.<\/p>\n

\"Dale\"Dale<\/p>\n

Dale in Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century at the Etcetera Theatre.<\/p>\n

The Etcetera Theatre, Camden<\/p>\n

The very first home of Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century, this 42-seat theatre is a little gem stowed away above a suitably boozy and merry pub. Broke & Fabulous is set in an old theatre that has closed (support the arts) and become a guardianship, where we find our protagonist Alex is living. The Etcetera<\/a>\u2019s intimate space makes for an amazing up close and personal experience. It\u2019s also one of the principle locations for Camden Fringe<\/a> which, if you\u2019re not heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe, is worth paying a visit from 3\u201330 August.<\/p>\n

\"Olive's\"Olive's<\/p>\n

Olive\u2019s graduating class at LAMDA.<\/p>\n

LAMDA, Baron\u2019s Court<\/p>\n

The real launch moment of my acting career was getting onto the course at LAMDA<\/a> (the London Academy of the Dramatic Arts). This is also where I met our incredible stage manager Kat Parry who has worked magic in making this show a reality. LAMDA will forever hold a special place in my heart, not only for the incredible training and rehearsal rooms they gave us, but for the incredible friends and community that never fail to amaze or support me, turning up to every show I perform in.<\/p>\n

Bank<\/p>\n

A slight red herring on this list, I do agree. But given that photography studios are expensive, we met up here on a Monday in March to film marketing material for Broke & Fabulous, including group shots and character trailers. This led to us running around Bank in our costumes and weaving our scantily-clad bodies (the show is about dating in your 30s, after all) around city workers as they tried to buy their lunch.<\/p>\n

London King\u2019s Cross<\/p>\n

Because where else in London can you get a train straight to the heart of Fringe? While this article may be my love letter to London, Edinburgh is where the next iteration of our venture takes place, and where we get to share our story with a whole new audience. If you\u2019re heading to the Fringe this August, we\u2019d love it if you to came to see Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century at Gilded Balloon Patter House. And hey, it\u2019s not too late to book your train ticket. Hopefully, we\u2019ll see you there.<\/p>\n

Olive is an actor and Senior Account Director at Country & Town House. Tickets for Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century are on sale now at gildedballoon.co.uk<\/a>, priced from \u00a311.25pp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As she prepares to take her show, Broke & Fabulous in the 21st Century, up from London to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[27,2561],"class_list":["post-88118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-london","tag-what"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116963790487505492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}