Camden Fringe: Four Face Theatre on Making Mates, a Play About Four Mates Trying to Make a Play

Ahead of its Camden Fringe return, Ciaran Duce, Joseph Ollman, Jack Staddon and Kieran Urquhart talk friendship, structure and ten years of getting to know each other

Mates had a sold-out debut earlier this year, followed by a sold-out run at the Hen & Chickens, and now arrives at The Courtyard Theatre as part of Camden Fringe with a newly developed production. Written and performed by Ciaran Duce, Joseph Ollman, Jack Staddon and Kieran Urquhart, and directed by Will Merrick, it follows four old friends reuniting to make a play together after years apart, only to find that having the venue, the props and the financial backing sorted doesn’t mean much without an actual play to put on. What starts as an exciting creative reunion spirals into plays-within-plays-within-plays, unearthing old tensions, bruised egos and some uncomfortable home truths.

Ahead of the run, Red Bus Londinium put questions to the company about how much of the show is drawn from their own decade of friendship, keeping a nested structure legible for an audience, and what’s changed since the show’s earlier runs.

Red Bus: Mates is billed as a play by four mates about four mates making a play about four mates. How much of the show is genuinely drawn from your own experience of trying to create something together, and how much is exaggerated for effect?

Four Face Theatre: We’ve been friends for ten years. The play originally came about because we all wanted to do a play together but couldn’t decide on what. So we decided to go meta with it and devise a play about four friends trying to put on a play but can’t. And that was the seed, it just took longer than we thought to get to where we are. After two years, we’ve gone through a long process of trial and error, first using recorded conversations, then character workshops, collaborative writing sessions and individual efforts at writing particular sections. It’s been a really fascinating and fluid process. We’ve taken elements of ourselves and our relationships, but exaggerated them for theatrical effect. It’s taken us to a place we never expected to land when we set out on this journey.

Red Bus: The show plays with plays-within-plays-within-plays. How did you find the right balance between the chaos of that structure and keeping the audience able to follow what’s real and what isn’t?

Four Face Theatre: We were very conscious of making sure there was an overall cohesive story structure, but within that to have our plays within plays. The characters begin in a rehearsal room, desperately thinking of ideas, but as we come up with them we often transition into a “play” state. In this play state we use light changes and sound effects to signify that we’re in a different world, so the audience knows where they are. However, as the play unravels and becomes more chaotic, the audience should question what is reality and what is the world we’re creating.

Red Bus: You’ve each built up solid screen careers separately. What made now the right time to come back together for a stage project, rather than something for screen?

Four Face Theatre: We love all mediums, but as an actor, theatre allows you to take the story and characters from start to finish. We all have huge respect for the form, it’s the ultimate experience as an actor. The energy and levels of creativity required are exhilarating, freeing and terrifying in equal measure. To have the opportunity to share that experience with your best friends is something that not many people get to do.

Red Bus: The show explores old tensions and bruised egos between old friends. Was it strange, or freeing, to put real dynamics between the four of you into a fictional frame?

Four Face Theatre: We’ve used exaggerated personal stories and traits of our own, but the characters are far enough from ourselves that it’s creatively safe. If anything, the shared history of our friendships just adds to the richness of the play very organically. Our director Will Merrick, an excellent actor himself, also created a really safe space for us to explore it in its totality during the rehearsal process.

Red Bus: You’ve had a sold-out debut and a sold-out run at the Hen and Chickens before this. What’s changed or developed in the show for its return at Camden Fringe?

Four Face Theatre: We took a lot from putting it on in front of an audience, and the changes we needed to make became clear. We’ve made it faster and funnier, the ride is even more exhilarating and bonkers. We’ve made cuts and changes to moments that weren’t working, and added extra scenes for clarity.

Red Bus: What would you want a first-time audience member, who doesn’t know any of your other work, to take away from Mates?

Four Face Theatre: Firstly, to have a brilliant time. But also hopefully to realise we are all a bit ordinary and extraordinary in equal measure. And to tell your mates you love them.