Writer and Director: Bethan Crotty
Schoolgirl Morgan, played by Irini Sozomenou, is grieving the mother she recently lost to cancer. Once a week, on a free period from school, she puts white roses on Mum’s grave and gets gently pissed from the contents of the hip flask she carries in her pocket. One day she meets a strange girl there, played by Tanuja Hanmantgad, who snaps Morgan’s photo and tells her that she has chosen the wrong flowers.
Were this a musical romcom, the set-up would make for a nifty meet-cute. In fact, though romance is on both characters’ agendas (there is a hint of Hollywood’s The Fault in Our Stars here), writer and director Bethan Crotty has other intentions. To Capture the Wildlife, the title presumably a reference to the purpose of the girl’s ever-present camera, is part musical coming-of-age story, part coming-out tale, and part meditation on grief.
The two women meet on the same day, week after week, and soon develop an affinity. Morgan finds herself falling in love, though she never quite trusts the girl’s intentions, nor does she understand how to manage the emotions of love and grief at the same time. “I’m a ghost; I can’t leave”, the girl jokes when asked why she is always in the graveyard. The truth, when it finally emerges, threatens further heartbreak for Morgan.
The story, it must be said, is a tad unambitious. But the songs, mostly folksy ballads, are a significant cut above anything you have a right to expect from a fringe musical, as is the singing. One tune, a belter of a love song called Starlight, is stonkingly hummable and more sophisticated than many West End offerings.
Jed Godfrey is great on the piano keyboards, the only instrument in the piece. Sozomenou has the kind of sustained voice tailor-made for Starlight, and she is fantastic, too, in the opening number, I’m So Lost, which sets the melancholic tone for the following 50 minutes. Hanmantgad has a tremendous singing voice, too, though her dialogue would occasionally benefit from more projection.
Runs until 5 August 2026.
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
