Camden Fringe 2026: The Alternative to Living at Barons Court Theatre

The alienation from screens and human connection theme aside, this Fringe drama from director Jessica Cooper and writer Fenn Telfer is never uninteresting, though one feels its impassioned pleas in favour of flesh and blood over pixels would resonate more strongly with more restraint exercised. As it stands, the ongoing stand-off between The Alternative to Living’s two principals (Menna Noble and Izzy Law, respectively) leaves little unsaid, their exchanges circling and re-circling the same points with the kind of blunt force that can turn motifs into sledgehammers. One (Noble) borders on agoraphobic, retreating more and more into the digi-sphere, while her presumed partner (Law) assumes a role not unlike a parent, imploring her charge to “go outside and just be!”

The third person in play is a social media personality as seductively insinuating as the Devil himself (Lorenzo Condemi), who’s host to the play’s most dynamic scene, an instance of crowd participation that brings a welcome dash of absurdity. Otherwise, he too is soon effusively speaking the themes of Alternative to Living repeatedly, luring the protagonist away from her loved one with promises of a kind of self-actualisation the real world can’t hope to touch, and doing so in the tones of pantomime evil. He’s just one more way this ambitious show proves too loquacious for its own good, triple underlining its ideas in place of expanding on them.

Ultimately, this new drama on the online age is a purposely circular affair, bringing its dedicated cast of three to the brink of revelation before promptly returning them to square one. In execution, however, this leaves the play with few places to go dramatically for the remainder of its mere one-hour runtime, only able to circle the drain. As a depiction of a brain in stasis, however, it maintains a claustrophobic immediacy throughout. Those repetitive thoughts ricocheting across its characters’ heads can overlap to an uncomfortable degree with many one would not admit to having had oneself.

Thomas Messner
Photos: Courtesy of The Alternative to Living

The Alternative to Living is at Barons Court Theatre from 3^rd until 5^th August 2026. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.