Camden Fringe Interview: Cold Maple Cloth

Cold Maple Cloth: Sydney Page and Sierra Philbert on Going Out With a Bang

There’s a particular kind of bravery in writing a farewell tour for a career you never quite had. Cold Maple Cloth: The Farewell Tour of a Delusional Diva, fresh from a Toronto Star “best of the fest” nod and a run at Toronto Fringe, arrives at the Libra Theatre Café this August courtesy of Luckiest Productions. Written by and starring Sydney Page, alongside co-star Sierra Philbert, it follows 27 year old failing actress Sydney Page as she mourns the career she never had and resigns herself to a “boring, normal person job”, right up until a visitor from her past turns up to complicate things.

I saw Cold Maple Cloth at the Glitch theatre and thoroughly enjoyed it so it was great to hear from Sydney and Sierra about turning a crisis of faith into a musical, and where they draw the line between comedy and heart.

Red Bus: Cold Maple Cloth started life out of a genuinely difficult period, a crisis of faith after a bad run of luck. What made turning that into a meta, satirical musical feel like the right response, rather than, say, walking away from the industry for real?

Cold Maple Cloth

Head shot of Sydney Page

Sydney Page: As much as the concept and character I’ve created with this show may suggest otherwise, at my core I am a very optimistic person who possesses a very strong belief that things always work out the way they are meant to (some may even say “delusional”). I had been feeling for some time that I was not actually meant to be following the path of someone who auditions for and performs in other people’s work. Since graduating from theatre school, I had a hard time following the directions and playing the role as written, which tipped me off to something not being quite right, because that’s literally what I had spent years and far too much money training for. When I finally embraced the fact that my path was going to have to be different than what I had previously imagined for myself, I was interested in writing a show of my own, but it’s such a mid-20s theatre school graduate cliché that I was hesitant to start.

Playing with this concept of doing an extremely self-indulgent “farewell tour” of my failed career allowed me to lean so far into the stereotype and then come out the other side with something more unexpected. To be completely honest, I really wasn’t sure if I was ever going to perform again. I just needed an outlet for my feelings and I wanted to joke about my insecurities until I felt better about them, so the fact it’s been this show, and the path it’s taken me on, that allowed me to find the love and joy in theatre again is really quite beautiful, and I am so grateful for it.

Red Bus: Sydney, you’ve described Sydney Page’s story as semi-autobiographical. How did you and Sierra find the line between mining your own experience honestly and building a character distinct enough to send up?

Sydney: I thought it would be interesting to see what happens if I just let the whiniest, most indulgent version of myself take over, so that’s where the character of “Sydney Page” was born, from this concept of taking the worst parts of myself (and of all performers, if I may be so bold) and really ramping them up. I also made this list of all the things I was afraid other people saw me as: delusional, untalented, egotistical, etc. What would happen if I amplified those to such extremes that they were impossible to ignore? As for Young Syd, I had been really playing with this idea of the “inner child” that gets tossed around so much lately, and it made me think of how pissed off my younger self would be if she found out I wasn’t on Broadway (or even a cruise ship show) at my ripe old age of 27. I gathered some quotes and memories from my real, cringey theatre kid adolescence and let Sierra take the reins with the character.

Sierra Philbert: It’s just a beautiful gift for an actor to have a role written just for you. And an even more special gift to have it written by your best friend. Even if it means you have to wear a Hamilton t-shirt that hasn’t been cleaned in over eight years.

Red Bus: The show is billed as a love letter to life itself as much as a comedy. Where do you think the comedy ends and the heart takes over, and was that balance always there, or something you found in the writing?

Sydney: I think in order to make fun of something, you have to love the thing you’re poking fun at. The reason I love theatre people so much is because so many of us tow this line of hating how annoying we all are but also knowing our lives would be so much less beautiful and colourful if we hadn’t found this world. I think that’s why we were able to find so much comedy in this concept without ever losing the heart at the core of the story. It’s like making fun of your family. We can do it to each other, but nobody else is allowed to!

I don’t want to spoil too much for those who are coming to see us soon, but then there is of course the big shift midway through the show, where I realised that if I really wanted this love story to land, I was going to have to go to a bit of a darker, more honest place, and that’s really what makes the ending of the story, and the love and bond between Sydney and Young Sydney, so compelling. Because that’s what this show is, at its core. It’s a love story! We can only root for someone for so long if they’re not truly letting us in, so I realised that my biggest act of love to my younger and current self, and to this art form, would have to be the thing I am most scared of: emotional vulnerability.

Red Bus: You’ve had successful runs both in London and at Toronto Fringe, including a Toronto Star top ten pick. Has anything changed in the show since I last saw it, or for its Camden Fringe audience specifically?

Sydney: Well, the most important change we made since our premiere at Lambeth Fringe in 2025 is that we brought on an incredible team of artists to build upon what we had. We have Caroline Wiechers as director, Annie Wang as music director and stage manager, Patricia Barlow as choreographer, T.Y. Jung as producer, and Hanna Crombie Nes as our marketing and social media manager. Marketing was the biggest learning curve during our initial run, and the biggest game changer was getting help. I highly recommend finding someone who not only knows what they are doing but who understands the humour and vibes of your specific show, that’s how the magic happens. We all believe so strongly in collaboration as the best tool for making theatre, and this show is a true testament to that. We already had most of these people involved in a smaller capacity before, but with more time and a (tiny) bit more of a budget we were able to let all of the creative team really flesh out the show and make it infinitely better. It’s amazing what a real rehearsal space and a team of amazing individuals can do together! This is not the same show that came to the UK for its world premiere, it’s bigger, sharper, and far more polished. We also picked up a new wave of energy and dare I say magic from our recent run in Toronto, so I can’t wait to get back in front of an audience again with Sierra and see how that has cemented.

Sierra: I will also say we have a few small cultural references we change depending on the country, so the true fans need to come and see both and see if they catch them! Is the West End truly the best end?

Red Bus: What would you want a young artist in their twenties, wrestling with their own doubts about the industry, to take away from watching Sydney’s story?

Sydney: As artists, and especially as performers, we get very used to waiting for someone else to tell us who we are and what we’re good enough for. The sooner you are able to really accept yourself for who you are, with nobody else’s approval, and not to pine over who you wish you were, the sooner you can figure out how to best serve and amplify that person. It takes a lot of courage and vulnerability, but it literally changed my life. And sometimes everyone is right, and you should make your own show! Also, go hyperfixate on a dead iconic artist you feel a soul bond with, even if you know they would hate you in real life, and keep them as an imaginary friend. Mine is Bob Fosse.

Sierra: I think we often get caught up in the “shoulds”. The things we “should” be doing, the way we “should” look, the jobs we “should” be booking. Which makes a lot of sense, because most of us have paid tons of money to go to school and have people tell us the right way to be a performer. But we don’t often think about what we want. I hope young artists will feel inspired to follow their joy.

Cold Maple Cloth: The Farewell Tour of a Delusional Diva runs at the Libra Theatre Café, 20–22 August, 9:15pm, as part of Camden Fringe.

Sydney Page headshot: Hayley Hruska

Cold Maple Cloth: The Farewell Tour of a Delusional Diva is one of the Red Bus picks for the Camden Fringe, find out about the others: