Writer and Director: Isabella Haldren
With a cast of 11, The Hostel is a quirky caper set in New York among young backpackers, most of them English. Before arriving in the Big Apple, bossy Ivy has given her two friends some instructions. Fellow Brit Bea must not talk to strangers, while Atlanta-born Jake must not be a hero and break up any fights he witnesses. We all know where this is going…
On top of these two storylines, young writer Isabella Haldren places friendship struggles, love triangles and plots involving assault and homophobia. There’s rather too much going on but plenty to fill Hostel’s 70 minutes. Scenes are short like a soap opera, and with its focus on teenage sexuality there’s something of Hollyoaks about it: it certainly seems to have an adolescent audience in mind.
Our three leads arrive at the hostel, and quickly we’re introduced to their new roommates. Jake is sharing with a couple that Antonia from Bea and Ivy’s dorm wants to break up. There’s a bookish boy who spends his time in the American capital reading in the hostel’s corridor and a streetwise girl who, nonetheless, seems so afraid of the streets that she rarely leaves her room.
The next morning, after an argument caused by Ivy’s micromanagement style, the three friends do their own thing in the city, where, of course, Jake becomes a hero, and Bea talks to a stranger. Most satisfying, though, is Ivy’s sudden change in character: donning a leather jacket and a short skirt, she goes out and bumps into Parker, a decent New Yorker.
Lily Forbes’s Bea is a delight, scatty and selfish and completely idiosyncratic. However, her story might work better if she were drunk rather than having taken a pill of some kind that leads to some very unlikely hallucinations. As Ivy, Aimee Sturgess puts in good work and is much more believable as an independent woman than as a fun sponge. KJ Adams is committed to his role as Jake, the active Good Samaritan, while Jake Moon is the endlessly patient Parker.
The episodic nature of the piece runs fluidly, and the fight scenes directed by Jason Theodoulou are impressively realistic. While Haldren’s drama showcases the skills of emerging talents, perhaps it’s still a little too busy in this New York hostel.
Reviewed on 28 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
