Following its successful debut at Bristol Old Vic in 2022 and an award-nominated (Show of the Week) run at VAULT Festival 2023, Coin Toss Collective’s sell-out show about communities affected by coastal erosion in the UK returns to London as part of Camden People’s Theatre’s curated spring season.
Devised and performed by the company, FREAK OUT! is set in Portsford, a seaside town fighting a losing battle with coastal erosion. When a sudden announcement threatens to tear the community apart, in an attempt to raise spirits, everyone comes together for a night of drinking and dancing. But as the party becomes a pressure cooker, difficult conversations surrounding shared loss of home, and collective and individual responsibility rise to the surface.
“A poetically playful and creatively choreographed moment for reflection and call to action” (Fringe Biscuit ★★★★), FREAK OUT! experiments with theatrical styles and genres, blending real stories and an issue-led narrative with live art, clowning, movement and multimedia into a high-energy cocktail of a show. Enjoy it while it lasts, because things are about to get messy… literally.
FREAK OUT! uses the story’s framework to discuss issues of shared loss of home, ecological catastrophe denialism, and the tensions that arise in divided communities, themes apt in the face of the latest IPCC report. It was originally inspired by BBC documentary The Village That’s Falling Into the Sea. In it, the community of Happisburgh throws a fundraising party for building a sea wall, during which the devastating reality of coastal erosion takes away two homes on the cliff edge. A five-star review by Broadway World described FREAK OUT! as “an impressive, multidimensional show’’ which “celebrates the coast’s beauty and laments its loss… it’s surprisingly and suddenly hilarious with an undertone of impending doom and exceptionally ingenious flair”.
Britain has some of the fastest eroding cliffs in Europe, with land disappearing at a rate of 4 metres per year. Over the last two decades, at least 35 homes have been lost to the waves in Happisburgh alone. Coastal erosion is a natural process for parts of the country, but climate change has accelerated this process. By 2080, an estimated 1.5 million properties will be located in areas with an annual risk of flooding, with 100,000 exposed to coastal erosion. With recent predictions that parts of London will be underwater by 2030, it feels particularly urgent to bring this story back to the capital. We are also currently planning to tour the show to affected coastal communities in the UK.
This show has been supported by funding from Arts Council England, and developed with choreographer and Sadler’s Wells associate artist Anthony Matsena, and Papatango Prize-winning playwright Matt Grinter.
Coin Toss Collective are a diverse, youth-led company of seven “joyfully chaotic” theatre-makers. They formed in 2021 through Made in Bristol, a year-long theatre-making residency at Bristol Old Vic. They ‘coined’ their name in a fluke moment, when one of their members suggested that they decide by tossing a coin. The company feels this reflects their collaborative, non-hierarchical approach to devising theatre – playful, endlessly curious, and open to experimenting with ‘liveness’, which often takes their work in exciting, unconventional directions.
Previous work includes: A Gurt Time Was Had By All (Bristol Old Vic, 2021; Stroud Theatre Festival, 2022), a celebration of memories of Bristol nights out past and present in the form of a randomised interactive bingo game, and Summer Collection – a co-created production with White City Youth Theatre about fast fashion, performed at the Bush Theatre in July 2023. The company has also started a podcast, ‘Coin Toss Conversations’, which spotlights other artists and theatremakers, their work and process.
FREAK OUT! is showing at Camden People’s Theatre from Tuesday 16th April – Wednesday 17th April 2024, 7:15pm. Buy your tickets here.