Interview: Sam Edmunds, ‘The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return’

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Sam Edmunds about their piece, The Chaos That Has Been And Will No Doubt Return.

Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far.

I am Sam the Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Chalk Line Theatre. I come from Luton, where believe it or not, I was once part of a dance company that performed at The Royal Opera House (if only I retained those moves!). I trained as an Actor at East 15 Acting School and have done some theatre/tv/film work. However my passion lay in directing and in 2018 I set up Chalk Line, which I have run for six years now. We tour socio-political work nationally and internationally, most recently doing the Untapped award winning Blanket Ban. I am also the Artist Support Producer at Camden People’s Theatre and the former Resident Assistant Director of The Hampstead Theatre. 

What is your show about?

My play draws on my personal experience of growing up in Luton and with conversations with people who have been affected by knife violence. The piece aims to tell an epic working class story of impoverished youths fighting against an environment that aims to repress them. Alongside this, it's also about being 16 years old and sort of feeling like the world is at your feet! It’s about trying to get your hands on booze, having the sickest time at a house party hosted by the pengest girl in school and having pure joy with your mates as you deal with all the crazy things being a teenager throws at you. The play is set to some MASSIVE noughties bangers, think Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry. With violence down ends, austerity in the neighbourhood, and a house party pulsing round the corner, it shows how anger, if left misdirected and uncontrolled, can lead to catastrophic events.

What was the inspiration for the show and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

It’s cliché but the older you get the more you look back on your youth, or upbringing, and start to analyse how it shaped you, for the good, and the bad. Some of things I experienced or took as the norm, are totally mad looking back; almost like living in some madcap thriller film. I started to think about how you could try to put some of this into a play. I also wanted to write something epic for the working classes, that captures joy, but also speaks to some of the truths we live with, using Luton as the backdrop for a wider conversation. The play has been made in conversation with young people across Luton, working with Beds Veru (knife crime intervention in the Bedfordshire Police) and schools across the county. It is very much a play told from my lived experience, but defined and dramatised through these conversations. 

What made you want to take this to the Fringe?

Chalk Line have been to the fringe multiple times, bringing our first play Testament to Edinburgh in 2018 and our latest Untapped award winning show Blanket Ban to Edinburgh in 2022. It very much feels like a home to us, a place that launched our career and keeps providing more opportunities. It’s also about opening the play out to the wider industry and audiences. The platform to tell the plays' message and be amongst the exciting work in Edinburgh, is unlike any other. This play is also a bit rough and untraditional, which is what the fringe is all about. Being in Summerhall’s Demonstration Room feels so fitting for the piece and the atmosphere we want to capture. We cant wait for audiences to see it.

Apart from seeing your show, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?

Wear running shoes (mad dashes between shows are what it's all about)

Why should people book to see your show? 

It promises to be a fun and impactful night at the theatre. If you grew up in the early noughties, it is a play about your youth, your culture, and the trashy music that underscored our lives. Our cast and creative team are brilliant and we are going full spectacle in an intimate space! Also we have a dance routine to Nicki Minaj’s Starships and it is not to be missed (spoiler alert!)! 

When and where can people see the show?

Summerhall August 1st-26th (except the 12th & 19th). Demonstration Room, 19.40pm (65mins run time). BOOK BOOK BOOK.