Camden Fringe: Lauren Derry on Caravan Tea Party

Lauren Derry’s playwriting debut asks what it means to “live the life”

Lauren Derry’s Caravan Tea Party marks her playwriting debut, developed with the support of Dan Allum of The Romany Theatre Company. Sophie Lovell, the play’s central character, sets off in search of a missing caravan, and finds herself questioning what it means to be Romany along the way. Derry, who is Romany and Irish Traveller on her father’s side, spoke to Red Bus Londinium about the play ahead of its world premiere at Etcetera Theatre.

Red Bus: This is your playwriting debut, and it’s drawn on Romany Theatre Company’s support. What was it like developing Caravan Tea Party with them, and how did that relationship shape the final shape of the play?

Lauren Derry: Quite a lot! I met Dan Allum in April 2025, before graduating from Drama Studio. I’d invited him to my showcase, he then invited me to a rehearsed reading of his work at the Ink Festival. That day we chatted for about three hours in The Cut’s cafe. He encouraged me to write about my experiences, that I didn’t need to know every fact about what makes someone Romany, more that people would be interested in my experience of the whole thing.

From there, the idea was left ruminating in the back of my mind as I did my grad show which he attended and then as I got my first job. I then got back in touch with him and we set up meetings where he went through everything, ideas, timings, structure, flow of scenes and connectivity. He read every single draft and returned with notes, questions and follow up meetings.

Honestly from start to finish he became a sounding board for my ideas and acted as a guide throughout the whole process encouraging the most authentically me version to come through in the writing. It’s shocking really, he stood to gain nothing financially or otherwise but supported me anyway. Having someone from a similar background champion you is so amazing, not only did he support me with the shape of the play but with the encouragement to try in the first place.

Red Bus: Sophie says “my caravan, my rules” and the play is built around a missing caravan and a search for identity. How much of Sophie’s questioning of what it means to be Romany comes from your own experience, and how much is invented for the character?

Lauren Derry: I’m Romany and Irish Traveller on my fathers side, a family estranged. Which resulted in me being cut off from my heritage as well. The question of how much of this heritage can you claim when you’re not “living the life” runs deep in the play, of course we can ask what is “living the life” and is that my own internalised prejudices coming out? Was it anger towards my family? What life was I living when my Nana was reading my palms and looking into her crystal ball if not that life?

Chiefly it’s about wanting to connect to something but being unable to and the search for the caravan showcases this friction. So I think the line of questioning in the play comes from my experiences but what takes place in the actual scenes to explore the questions are fictitious.

Red Bus: You’ve described the show as mixing silly puppets and 00s references with grief and old wounds. How did you find the right balance between the comedy and the more painful family material, particularly around bereavement?

Lauren Derry: I suppose I’ll only know if I got the right balance when the reviews come back!

But I’ve always been a fan of satire and dark comedy. Monty Python’s Life of Brian is such a favourite, its taken everything in me not to shoehorn Always Look on the Brightside of Life into the show. Similarly, the comedic relief in Dr Faustus leaves me eternally inspired.

To be honest, I think it’s all I’ve ever known, as a teenager I cracked the most morbid jokes about my grief, during the height of it nothing cheered me up except reading 1970’s magazines about french mime, like what’s that all about? As it was my coping mechanism it therefore felt natural to write in this way too.

With thanks to Etcetera Theatre and The Camden Fringe Festival, and to Dan Allum (The Romany Theatre Company), for his continued belief and support.

Caravan Tea Party plays at Etcetera Theatre on 25 and 26 August at 5pm, tickets £9. Suitable for ages 16 and over.

Head shot: Imogen Forte

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