Camden Fringe: Isabel Quiroz on Xquenda

Writer-director Isabel Quiroz on bringing Zapotec language, femicide and magical realism from Oaxaca to a London fringe stage

Xquenda, from Teatro Glam&Roll, has its Camden Fringe premiere at The Cockpit this August. Written, directed and performed by Isabel Quiroz, it follows a young indigenous woman from rural Oaxaca whose best friend has disappeared and been murdered, and who takes up the fight for justice through the only weapon she has: her words. The play moves between English, Spanish and Zapotec, threaded through with live and recorded Mexican music, and is based on a true story. Isabel answered some questions for us ahead of the show’s one-off London date.

Red Bus: The play draws on the femicides and forced disappearances that have affected your protagonist’s town for years. What drew you to tell that story through her voice and her poetry specifically?

Isabel Quiroz: The protagonist comes from an indigenous background where music and poetry are linked to the native language she speaks. The Zapotec language is a poetic language that describes the beauty of the world that surrounds us. When I wrote this piece, character led, I wanted to dig not only into the situation surrounding her, the femicides and forced disappearances that have happened in her town for years, but into the inner fire and the strength to keep going even if the situation around her is dangerous.

This is a character with no apparent power due to her economic and social background, and the only thing she has to fight against authorities and the world is her voice, her words. Her words are also the only thing she has to protect herself. She says in the play “we sing because it’s the best way to be listened by our gods”, and using her words, her truth, even with fear, is what constructs the play. That leads into creating a sonorous universe, where poetry and songs are another way of storytelling, where the character can express what she feels, especially when she’s in pain.

Red Bus: You’re writing, directing and performing in this piece, drawing on your own Mexican background to bring Oaxaca, Zapotec language and magical realism to a London stage. How much of your own family or cultural history found its way into the piece, particularly the relationships with Ñaa and Abuela?

Isabel Quiroz: I’m from Mèxico, and I grew up in the place where the piece is located, described in the play as “the magical town of Guizii”, which is Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. So I wrote this play from a place that I know, and like many native towns in Mexico it has its own culture, customs, beliefs and worldview. The relationships between the lead character and her Ñaa (Mum) and Abuela (Grandmother) come from my personal experience and culture. Creating this play was a way to introduce myself as a theatre maker to the London stage, as I moved here almost five years ago to study my MA, where we started developing this play and where I met Nicollah Sekete, who portrays the lead character, and Rae Keefer and Soeren Wellens, my assistant directors. I was so lucky to find a team who believed in this play through all these years, and who have enriched it with their talent, all coming from different backgrounds.

Red Bus: The play moves between English, Spanish and Zapotec, alongside live and recorded traditional Mexican music. What was the biggest challenge in weaving those languages and sounds together for a Fringe audience who may not speak Spanish or Zapotec?

Isabel Quiroz: The play is mainly written in English, and the use of Zapotec and Spanish are part of building a universe that isn’t situated in an English speaking world. I think the biggest challenge was making sure it was clear for the audience who the characters are, especially when called in Zapotec or Spanish, like Abuela or Ñaa, but mainly to understand what is said in those other languages even when there are no direct translations. The play has an inner poetic language, and songs, where all the languages navigate, so we focused on developing the atmospheres and emotions connected to the meaning of those words, so the barrier of the foreign languages isn’t a problem. Nicollah, as an English native and the protagonist of the show, does an amazing job delivering the whole background of the character.

Red Bus: Teatro Glam&Roll’s work draws on quite a distinctive mix of influences, cinematic noir and seventies glam alongside Mexican folk tradition. How does that aesthetic show up in Xquenda, given its subject matter is so much darker and more political than “glam” might suggest?

Isabel Quiroz: For me the glam relies on giving to the characters a moment to shine, a moment to express who they are regardless of their role in society. All my plays talk about real people and real situations, their struggles in the real world and the injustice that they face, so giving them an intimate moment where they can sing and they can dream out of their reality, it’s “the glam”. The use of music is a key element to build these ideas, as I believe every person has a favourite song and has a unique sound that most of the time we don’t see, but it’s important as it says much of who we are. In the case of Xquenda, our protagonist has poetry and music that express much of who she is, and also give her the power to dream, to heal, and to try to change her reality.

Red Bus: This is a story about a young woman fighting for justice in a case the authorities won’t properly investigate, because of who she is and where she’s from. What do you most want a London audience, quite far removed from rural Oaxaca, to take away from her fight?

Isabel Quiroz: That our voices are important. Regardless of our background we all face tragedies and there are injustices in the world. Our voices are powerful, and they have consequences, but they also have the power to make a change. This is a story about a woman who speaks up, who demands justice even after understanding that doing so can lead to a fatal ending. The seed of change was more important for her than living just repeating the history of her world.

Xquenda runs at The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH, on 8 August 2026 at 5pm, as part of Camden Fringe 2026. Tickets are £15 full price, £12 concessions, bookable via thecockpit.org.uk or by phone on 020 7258 2925. The show carries a suitability guidance of 16 and over, with sudden loud noises and references to violence and femicide.

Photography by Destiny Chen.

Xquenda is one of the Red Bus picks for the Camden Fringe, find out about the others: