Writer: Joel Stern
Director: Lyna Dubarry
One of the most creatively staged productions at this year’s Camden Fringe Festival, Joel Stern’s melodramatically titled Harmonise or Die is essentially an hour of sci-fi bickering in a very well-conceived future ‘utopia.’ Blending a frightening-looking mind-mapping machine with a 0-100 dial that affects the brain waves of the two characters wearing manipulating helmets as the audience take their seat, Stern’s scenario of Orwellian computers controlling humanity and forcing them into reconditioning pods is impressively staged by Definitely-Not-A-Cult Productions as the small Rosemary Branch space becomes a kind of prison.
Given 24 hours to reharmonise in the society of Harmonium Nova that won’t tolerate violence, negativity or deviation of any kind, Lyra and Gabriel are forced to reckon with their bad behaviour and their compatibility as a couple. With 23 hours gone, the pair endure a series of puzzles which they must solve together, increasingly focusing on how they ended up in the treatment facility in the first place.
Stern’s futurist comedy is full of great ideas, expanding on a “post-conflict” version of humanity where everyone is expected to be in sync. In all great sci-fi, though, is a strand of underground resistance, of people resenting the control over their behaviours and bodies, finding ways to resist, even if only in thought. And the imperfections of this seemingly perfect society bleed through as the hour unfolds, including the constant recording, the electric-shock punishments and the acceptance that deviant individuals will offend again, requiring further treatment. There’s also a strand of human behaviour that Stern could spend more time on: the concept of collaboration and Gabriel’s role in ‘reporting’ transgressors to the authorities could unlock far greater drama about the pettiness of individuals, his own fears and the moral choice to betray friends and neighbours for which there is currently little cost.
There is also an interesting exit option, a deserted and feral land beyond the protection of the masters of Harmonium Nova that could also offer a greater dilemma for the characters who in this genre must always choose between an unknown that might offer liberty or the claustrophobic but known limitations of where they are. The design includes a big red button that will exile the characters, offering itself up as a solution several times. This becomes the Chekhov’s gun of this production, potentially offering alternative endings if the characters succumb to temptation or are too conditioned to risk expulsion.
Harmonise or Die instead focuses on a series of circular arguments between Lyra (Mila Michael) and Gabriel (Stern) as they grapple over the blame for their current plight and their inability to focus on harmonising. Some of this is very funny, but the relationship needs a stronger shape, so looking at the recent work of David Eldridge and particularly Lucy Prebble’s The Effect will help with the balance between the science fiction frame and delving deeper into the real human experience of a couple under strain.
Reviewed on 22 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
