Are you there Mother? – Camden Fringe 2026

Writer and Director: Thomas Carruthers

Following its Northern premiere, Righton Productions takes Are you there Mother? to London as part of Camden Fringe. In this one person play, a struggling actor finds himself becoming a fake psychic to comfort a grieving woman who has lost her mother. The fakery continues to escalate, in an attempt to keep the woman happy, until things come to a big climax.

Thomas Carruthers writes, directs and performs the play. As a writer, Carruthers balances comedy and emotion fairly well. The earlier scenes of the play boast plenty of laughs and by the end, the audience is moved (and possibly a little disturbed) by the relationship we have seen develop. The play feels quite slow paced but just about manages to avoid dragging too much. In his performance, Carruthers demonstrates his strong comic timing. His dry Northern humour works excellently for this play and this reviewer hopes Carruthers’ may lean into comedy more in the future. He has a wonderful and natural stage presence and he has the audience in the palm of his hands from the first minute. He plays the two central characters well, differentiating them just enough. At times, they can feel a little like caricatures but he humanises them enough to ensure the emotional weight of the climax lands. One can’t help but wonder, however, if the play could have been more impactful as a two-hander. It is never entirely clear why we’re being told this story and why it’s being told in retrospect.

The play is performed on a simple set – having some small changes between scenes could have enhanced the piece but Carruthers’ descriptive language means we know exactly where we are at all times.

Whilst Are you there Mother? may not be the most innovative of one-person plays, it is a great showcase of Carruthers’ ability to write and perform both comedy and drama, and blend the two expertly. Having also seen Righton Productions’ Sheffield premiere of Conflict of Interest, the company must be admired for tackling a great variety of types of play and this reviewer looks forward to seeing what they do next.

Runs at Etcetera Theatre (13th August, 3pm) and Hen and Chickens Theatre (13th and 14th August, 9pm) as part of Camden Fringe 2026