Camden Fringe 2026: Un/filtered at The Water Rats

In this day and age, when social media traps its users – all of us – within images of perfect lives, defined by happiness and accomplishment, Alice Gerstenberg’s play Overtones touches a sensitive nerve: the battle between one’s wilder self – with its strong feelings and expectations – and the image we project to others. In this contemporary version of the play, Nordic theatre company Off the Record Theatre brings a burst of hilarity and food for thought to the Camden Fringe, inviting audiences to question their judgement of other people’s seemingly impeccable lives.

Harriet (Isabel Hees), who married into wealth through the influential Charles, is getting ready to meet her long-time acquaintance Margaret (Victoria Adler), who instead tied the knot with John, a photographer with few prospects of success – and young Harriet’s first love. Over their coffee catch-up, though, the two women’s thoughts become entangled with the commentary and impulses of their subconscious selves, who manifest with force and indignation, decidedly untamed beneath the surface.

The setting change is smooth, as is the visual contrast created through the dominant colours of the two pairings – red for Harriet and Hetty, blue for Margaret and Maggie.

The script blends the vehement internal thoughts and the outwardly restrained exchanges very well. Particularly effective is the tight head-to-head between the women over the photography booking – the exchange mimicking a poker game, where bluffing and the impression of eagerness are key chips, more so than the underlying truth. Riekkola – as Maggie – and Dormor – in the shoes of Hetty – have exceptional timing; their movements envelop the women at the centre of the conversation without overwhelming them, like presences that are undeniable yet cannot be socially acknowledged. As they both physically draw almost uncomfortably close to the other actresses, the strong chemistry within the group is evident, remaining unflinching even in moments of sudden, extreme proximity. Their tense quarrelling makes for effective comic intrusions.

Adler and Hees convincingly portray the graceful and snobbish women at the centre of the action, intimidated by their counterparts while also deeply jealous, despite their own achievements. While the opening scene neatly establishes the roles in a one-to-one between Hees and Dormor, there’s a stiffness to the interplay during the coffee meeting when three conversations cross over one another, and both Hees and Adler seem stilted, whether waiting a little too long for a pause or hinting at some uncertainty over their own lines.

In this idealised relationship reality that – willingly or not – audiences are engulfed in, Off the Record Theatre’s Un/filtered is an amusing pinch of raw introspection.

Cristiana Ferrauti
Photo: Conor Molloy

Un/filtered is at The Water Rats from 9^th until 12^th August 2026. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.