Writer: Aaron Low
Directors: Aaron Low and Roe Rajah
Camden Fringe has finally attracted the star name it has been waiting for: 90s pop singer Eliza Maroon arrives at the Rosemary Branch to take part in the show trial of the century. Forget Depp versus Herd, ignore Wagatha Christie, Aaron Low’s enjoyable satire is here to decide whether Eliza Maroon or the stalker who also shot her should be sacrificed to the court of public opinion. Taking in the pressures of fame, obsessive fandom and the redrawing of boundaries on social media, Your Time is Now, Eliza Maroon shows that justice and fame are uneasy bedfellows.
The details of Low’s show, which he co-directs with Roe Rajah, are really well thought through, creating the world of the faded popstar in some detail over 30-years, all revealed as part of the staged court case presided over by a fairly biased judge who, like the social media platforms she embodies, largely takes stalker Gary’s side. The character Eliza Maroon is presented as both a star and as someone deserving of unwanted attention as her career falters, and only her ‘Marooners’ remain faithful as the former Grammy winner produces flop after flop.
Low’s show includes three well worked perspectives – Gary the stalker who describes the growth of his fandom, the insistence that he knows the singer personally and is dangerously devoted to her; Eliza who struggles to maintain the star pose, continually letting her real opinions and more interesting humanity through, and finally the view of her record company executive husband, Marcus, doubling as her legal counsel with an agenda of his own. Through these different characters, Low explores how the business and the fantasy of fame become jumbled up as different forms of ownership dominate Eliza’s story.
Your Time is Now. Eliza Maroon builds its case well, slowly revealing more information to the audience as the connections between Eliza and Gary are revealed, as well as the events leading up to the crime, sustaining the drama nicely for its 60-minute running time. And that drama is never even-handed, with neither Eliza, Gary, nor especially Marcus portrayed as wholly sympathetic characters, all tempered by greed, self-absorption, obsessive behaviours and anger when the expectations they project onto each other clash with the less glamorous reality of the woman behind the pop star. Even Jennifer Jade’s Judge is more interested in her own self-promotion than in hearing either point of view.
Eliza, as played by Maria Eleni Loizidou, is all brazen diva for much of the show, certain of her talent and resentful of the dimming spotlight that has largely abandoned her. But underneath there is an interesting commentary on the expectations placed on female popstars to be youthful, accessible to the demands of their male fans and eternally loveable, all while bending to the commercial pressures of the business. Jenson Davenport flits between earnest victim and menacing creep as stalker Gary, revealing the intensity of compulsive fandom and the empty life beneath, while Bailey Finch’s Marcus proves as damaging and unsupportive of his wife-client as the judgemental social media courtroom.
The actors sometimes rush their lines, particularly when talking loudly, which occasionally makes the dialogue hard to follow and the tone unwavering. There is also scope to dig a little deeper into the role of the judge and the power imbalance between the wealthy star and the poor stalker, but Your Time is Now, Eliza Maroon has a lot to say about what it means to be famous and what happens when you love a famous stranger too much.
Runs until 16 August 2025
Camden Fringe runs until 24 August 2025
