{"id":353149,"date":"2025-08-18T02:52:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/353149\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T02:52:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:52:18","slug":"camden-fringe-2025-bog-body-barons-court-theatre-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/353149\/","title":{"rendered":"Camden Fringe 2025: Bog Body – Barons Court Theatre, London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer: Olivia Cordell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Emily Hawkins<\/strong><\/p>\n

Horror influencer, Olivia Cordell, premieres her first one-woman show Bog Body \u2013 and it is certified to send chills down your back.<\/p>\n

Playing the newly qualified Dr. Alyssa Kim, delivering a lunchtime lecture on century-old bodies preserved in peat bogs, Cordell constructs a chaotic character enthused by her subject. Immediately establishing the play\u2019s tension, Cordell effectively portrays Kim\u2019s nerves, heightened by her missing research partner. A cascade of unprecedented events follows \u2013 all of which lead back to the human remains that are freakishly covered on stage by one thin white sheet.<\/p>\n

Despite her jittery character, Cordell is in complete control of the theatre for the full hour, a credit to her distinguished stage presence and stamina. She demonstrates an impressive acting range as her physicality and vocal tone evolve along with the escalating horror.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Cordell\u2019s movements, choreographed to accompany the disturbing sound effects, demonstrate director Emily Hawkins\u2019 musicality. These details did not go amiss, but make for a truly chilling performance that does not feel at all farcical, something that is not easily achieved considering the level of drama in horror theatre.<\/p>\n

The production\u2019s technical elements further elevate the show, including a flickering projector, creative light and sound, and crucially, the displayed human remains. This transforms the intimate fringe theatre into a lecture hall convincingly possessed by the angry spirits of the dead.<\/p>\n

Cordell\u2019s ability to connect with the audience is extremely impressive. Following her natural interaction with audience members early on, she retains their answers in order to incorporate them into her closing monologue. This makes for an engaging finish, ensuring that the message of the production lands.<\/p>\n

Amidst the supernaturalism, Bog Body has a clear purpose as feminist theatre. Set in the modern-day, women\u2019s rights have obviously progressed since the years when Kim\u2019s case study was alive, 2000 years ago. In fact, the professors fronting Kim\u2019s archaeology explorations are almost all women.<\/p>\n

Drawing parallels with the brutality towards women centuries ago, Bog Body suggests that contemporary women remain oppressed, specifically in society\u2019s fascination with their suffering. This message is fortified when Kim pulls up a tabloid highlighting the female professors\u2019 health problems that are supposedly linked to their research. Attention came to these women only as victims, rather than during their ground-breaking work.<\/p>\n

What results is an entertaining and horrifying production that simultaneously delivers patriarchal resistance. However, regardless of gender, all audience members are invited to view their wounds as formative to who they are, rather than a weapon to further diminish us.<\/p>\n

As they embark on tour, Bog Body will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on audiences.<\/p>\n

Runs until 17 August 2025 and continues to tour<\/strong><\/p>\n

Camden Fringe runs until 25 August 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t100%<\/p>\n

\t\t\tHorrifying, empowering, feminist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer: Olivia Cordell Director: Emily Hawkins Horror influencer, Olivia Cordell, premieres her first one-woman show Bog Body \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[124681,124682,748,104389,124683,393,4884,986,257,124684,6080,2764,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-353149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-barons-court-theatre","9":"tag-bog-body","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-camden-fringe","12":"tag-emily-hawkins","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-horror","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-olivia-cordell","18":"tag-review","19":"tag-theatre","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115047507174736266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}