Camden Fringe: Eva Voss on Barely Human

Writer-performer Eva Voss on turning prison, probation and feminine rage into a glow-up cabaret

Barely Human follows Eva, fresh out of prison on early release for a violent crime, staging a “glow-up cabaret” under the watchful eye of her probation officer while she works her way towards explaining, and reliving, what she did and why. Writer-performer Eva Voss weaves in songs from musical theatre and pop, amon them “Screw Loose”, “How Did We Come To This” and “Pirate Jenny”, alongside stories told straight to the audience. She co-founded Far Between Theatre with the show’s musical director, Dean Austin, who also performs alongside her, following the company’s jazz-age Much Ado About Nothing earlier this year. Ahead of the show’s Camden Fringe run at the Courtyard Theatre, Eva answered a few questions for us.

Red Bus: Barely Human centers on Eva doing a “glow-up cabaret” straight out of prison while under her probation officer’s watchful eye. Where did the inspiration for using a cabaret setting to explore post-prison rehabilitation and symbolic crime come from?

Eva Voss: Songs allow you to set up fantastical worlds in the blink of an eye and make them easily experiential, i.e. they take you a step away from reality and naturalism. They also introduce heightened language and emotions. And in the case of Barely Human, where I use songs from musical theatre and pop, they allow me to connect the experiences of my main character to those of other characters and people.

The premise of Barely Human is a fairly heightened one: Eva is fresh out of prison for committing a violent crime and she is desperate to forget and start a life of glittering positivity with her new audience friends. But as we all know, it never truly works to run from your past, and she gets inescapably pulled into explaining, understanding, and reliving her broken-hearted rage, until finally, you will see exactly what she did and why.

Songs like “Screw Loose”, “How Did We Come To This” and “Pirate Jenny” help me explore all those heightened situations and emotions, while the stories I tell and situations I create with the audience in between help us all to stay grounded in the reality of Eva’s situation.

Red Bus: Audience responses from your first run described the show as “bonkers,” “Lynchian,” and “full of feminine rage”. How do you balance those surreal, high-chaos elements with the show’s darker, heavier themes?

Eva Voss: I love those responses. I think another one expresses the answer to this question really well: “a fabulous portrayal of something both absurd and undeniably real”.

The ever-present hate of women and other-gendered people is real, and it is absurd. Our devaluation, our second-rate status, the violence committed against us through no evocation of our own. But it is so interwoven in our every-day lives and much of our history, it can feel like the water that we swim in. It feels pretty normal, and we are all supposed to just cope and get on with it. And so, I have to use surreal, high-chaos elements to bring it to the forefront for us all to see.

I want to create a space where we can laugh through horror, but the laughter doesn’t cancel out the horror. It actually makes us more able to experience it in all its facets. Peta Lily calls this “troubled laughter” in her Dark Clown work.

In summary, the surreal elements serve to bring out the painful theme.

Red Bus: You’re working alongside renowned Musical Director Dean Austin for this run. How does the musical score help steer Eva’s emotional journey from “raw” energy to full cabaret performance?

Eva Voss: Dean is an absolute master on the piano, a real cabaret expert, and has a deep understanding of the interplay between musical and dramatic elements of theatre. Whenever I put a song in a show, he makes it better.

For the first rehearsal of this show back in February, I had sent him the script. So, after the initial hellos, he sat himself down at the piano, opened up the material, and just said: “Well, this is bonkers”. And I love to quote that all the time, even my MD thinks I’m insane. I think I’ve written something he really enjoys, though, so I’m extra proud of that!

The musical score is what allows Eva to access her deepest emotions. It breaks her down and puts her back together. And it helps her express things she wouldn’t have been able to express alone. Without the musical score, she’d maybe have done a tight five stand-up set and succumbed to her chocolate milk addiction in a few years.

Red Bus: Far Between Theatre made a splash earlier this year with a jazz-age adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. How does moving from a big Shakespeare adaptation to a raw, intimate two-hander at the Courtyard Theatre reflect what Far Between Theatre is all about?

Eva Voss: Far Between Theatre is about telling the stories of our softness, difference, and violence, in order to encourage audiences to open up their hearts and fire up their bellies. Those stories are everywhere and each has a form that fits them well. We care about creating the right form for the story.

Much Ado is already heightened in that it’s a Shakespeare play, and a Shakespeare comedy at that, so it allowed us to ground it in a world where queer people were finding a momentary relaxation of scrutiny in the speakeasies of New York City. Our Much Ado is a celebration of queer love, joy, and creativity. Those things are present in the text, and can be brought out with the right setting. Our version of the piece asks for a large, energetic cast, a subversive, underground performance space like Arches Lane, glittering costumes, and live music.

Barely Human wants raw vulnerability, personal rage, and chaotic absurdity that connects with the well of feminine pain around the world.

For us, it’s about what the piece creates in an audience and which form serves that mission best.

By the way, we also produce other creators’ work that we feel fits under our mission statement. Recently, we did the production for Reel Life for writer-performers Levenka Andrea and Ian Chapman Black, a hilarious and eerie physical theatre piece harkening back to the silent film era. Talk about a different form!

Red Bus: Without giving too much away, what do you hope audiences are chewing on, or talking about over a glass of chocolate milk, when they walk out of the theatre?

Eva Voss: I hope people give themselves a hug. I hope they talk and ask questions of their family and friends who are anything other than cis men, and then do the same with the cis men they know. I hope they volunteer in their communities, vote in elections, stand up for each other, make and experience art, or do whatever they are called to do to contribute to all of our wellbeing. I hope they ask themselves questions about where violence comes from and where it goes when we’re personally done with it. I hope they keep listening, keep questioning, learn and grow. I hope they live full lives, where they can love safely.

Barely Human runs at the Courtyard Theatre on 14 and 15 August, 9pm, as part of Camden Fringe 2026. Tickets are £15, £11 concessions. The show is approximately 60 minutes, with 18+ advised: it contains descriptions of distressing topics including torture, sexual assault and harassment, along with adult themes, partial nudity and bad language.

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