Deborah Pearson’s London

Co-director and theatre producer Deborah Pearson is part of the team behind the Forest Fringe in Edinburgh.

The Forest Fringe has been quietly running for three years, and under the careful guidance of its directors, it has grown and grown, taking in a diverse range of artists and performers who are welcome to try out work that might not be given a home elsewhere.

As their efforts this year were recognised with a prestigious Fringe First award, I caught up with Deborah in London town to find out how the capital inspires her.

How long have you lived in London and what brought you here?

‘I’ve been here for three years now. I initially came to do a course in text and performance at King’s College and RADA, which seemed like an interesting course because Alan Read, a professor at King’s, was tuned in to more experimental theatre, while RADA had a grounding in traditional approaches. The course also taught producing, writing, directing, and dramaturgy, and at the time I was drawn in by the idea of getting a broad grounding in theatre.’

You live in Shoreditch, an area known for its creative scope. What brought you to the area?

‘In Toronto I lived in an area called Little Portugal, which was populated in equal measure by little old Portuguese women who sat on their porch, staring at the youth of today suspiciously, and too-cool-for-school kids riding bikes in skinny jeans. 

‘I’ve always sort of been drawn to a neighbourhood with an equal smattering of an immigrant community and insufferable hipsters, so Shoreditch made sense for me. Some part of me is aware of the fact that I’m probably one of those insufferable crowd, or at least I have been in the past, but most of me is in denial about that and I like to keep it that way!’

You’ve had a lot of success with the Forest Fringe in Edinburgh. Do you think it is possible to resurrect that kind of spirit in London?

‘We’ve got our eye on it. We had a Forest Fringe night at the Battersea Arts Centre in March and we’re planning a Forest Fringe tour this spring that will visit a few venues across the country. In a way, though, the ethos and spirit of Forest Fringe can already be found in a lot of venues here in London. As a performer I love working with the BAC, Shunt and Stoke Newington International Airport. Forest Fringe is friends with all of these venues and we share a lot of performers and policies.’

Do you find London itself to be inspiring for your own creative endeavours?

‘It’s a grower. It takes about two years, but once you get used to the pace of life here, it can be pretty inspiring because London is the epicentre for so many different industries. What’s nice about that is that I meet a lot of people in completely different fields who are very passionate about what they do, and I think that breadth in terms of my friendships helps keep me constantly inspired as an artist. The fear about making theatre is always that your influences and reference points will become too insular, but in London there’s just too much else going on in too many other industries for that to be an option.’

You and your partner ran an advice booth on Brick Lane. What was the thinking behind that and do you plan to do it again?

‘We found that because Londoners lead such a hectic life they generally have trouble talking about their problems. It’s much easier to talk to a stranger who is not emotionally involved with the problem and can give an objective viewpoint on the situation.

‘The things people wanted to talk about were generally not severe enough to go to an analyst for. They were more like little quandaries that people found themselves in and needed some guidance with. Unfortunately, as soon as we got some attention for what we were doing, the council shut us down. So these days the advice booth exists by invitation only. 

‘We’ve done it about four times at Shunt and will probably do it elsewhere in the future. And of course, people can still ask us questions via the MySpace, which used to happen a lot when we were featured on Current TV. I became an expert at solving American teenage girl problems, since American teenage girls loved to ask us questions via MySpace.’

What are your ambitions for the year?

‘To work with Andy to get the Forest Fringe tour up and running and to make the venue itself sustainable, to get some funding, to keep going.  When you work in freelance “keeping going” always seems to be the most important ambition you can have.’

What are the best and worst aspects of living in London?

‘I would say that the best parts are the constant mental stimulation and always having something to focus on. I’m also a big fan of the city’s architecture. I live in the oldest council flats in Europe, and they make my brain tingle every time I see them.

‘The worst parts are the expense of living here and also the gap between the rich and poor, which can be pretty depressing. But overall, I really enjoy living here and once you get a good group of friends, the city feels like a race you’re all running in together. It’s kind of lovely in a breathless, manic and adrenaline filled way.’