We sat down for a quick chat with Anoushka Cowan, actor and writer, about her latest project: 2.36, which will be taking place Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd August, 3pm at the Etcetera Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe.
1. 2.36 touches on sibling dynamics and hidden family secrets – what inspired you to write this story?
Neither Elijah nor I have siblings, so we were drawn to the idea of exploring what that kind of relationship might feel like through writing. I’ve always believed that strong characters naturally lead to compelling plots, and once we landed on the kinds of personalities and themes we wanted to explore, the story started to take shape on its own. We had countless brainstorming documents, and one thread we kept returning to was the idea of people not being who they seem—how first impressions can be misleading. We were also fascinated by the theme of forced proximity—being stuck together in confined spaces like an elevator or a locked room. From there, the concept evolved into two characters who aren’t just physically stuck together, but emotionally too—siblings, close in age, navigating the complexity of being bound to one another.
2. What drew you to set the story in Vianden, Luxembourg?
Luxembourg is a tax haven, which was the main reason for setting it there, but I also recently met a friend from Luxembourg, so we were able to ask for names of some nice places there and eventually settled on Vianden.
3. You’re playing Keira as well as co-writing and co-producing the piece – how do you switch between those hats, and what do you enjoy about each role?
The most exciting part for me is getting to have so much creative control over a character. When you play any character, it’s up to the actor (and director) to interpret the text and create something unique, but being able to invent somebody from scratch, and have complete creative freedom is really fun. Producing is the thing that I’ve found the hardest, as it’s newer to me – but luckily Elijah knows a lot about that aspect and can guide me when needed.
4. What was your biggest learning curve in producing this show?
I think simply discovering how many roles need to be filled, whether it’s a director, sound, lighting or even costume, I hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be to organise schedules and find people who were available.
5. What’s one moment in the show that you really love, that you’d encourage audiences to look out for?
There are a few individual lines that for some reason, I just love. There is one moment where Josh just says the word “riveting” and it really makes me laugh, I don’t know why.