Camden Fringe 2026: Love vs Fear and My Mother’s Prayers at SPID Theatre

Pulling us into the world of the successful and thoughtful young Kike (Damilola Turner) as she navigates finding love and finding herself in her 20s, Love vs Fear and My Mother’s Prayers presents a moving tale as old as time – with an engaging modern twist to the form.

From her entry onto the stage, Turner commands the space and our attention, introducing the audience to Kike and to the expectations and unmet milestones that are preoccupying her and muddling the decisions she feels that she needs to make. Other characters – her mother, sister and friends – are presented both by Kike herself in vivid and often incisively funny parodies, and through the detached but intimate medium of WhatsApp voice notes. The men of the play are heard only as disembodied playback voices – which, once the play gets underway and one hears what they’ve been up to, is arguably even more spotlight than they deserve.

Billed as an “immersive experience”, Love vs Fear, written by Bunmi Aworanti and directed by Estelle Uba, offers its audience an online, interactive platform, which gives the audience the chance to play along with the characters through videogames and live polls. As Kike moves through heartbreak to new love, with the well-intentioned advice and prayers of family and friends to contend with on either side, theatregoers are invited to reflect on what they have heard, and share what they would do differently – or, what they would wish for the character, who through Turner’s brilliant performance becomes the subject of the audience’s sympathy and respect. It’s a masterful idea, both for the way it draws the audience further into the action, and the dramatic tension it creates in welcoming attendees to pass judgement on Kike’s choices and then displaying the sum of those judgements back to them on screen.

Turner is remarkable in this challenging one-woman project – a natural storyteller, she builds a Kike audiences can root for by showing her hesitations, self-awareness and kindness, and then shows how such a lovely person can fall into mistakes, despite everything. What is especially memorable about Love vs Fear is the blueprint the play maps out for how to move through these mistakes, and how to keep some of that kindness for oneself. This uplifting reminder will stay with audiences after the play, along with its unique and entertaining experiment in form.

Sylvia Unerman
Photo: Courtesy of Camden Fringe

Love vs Fear and My Mother’s Prayers is at SPID Theatre from 13^th until 16^th August 2026. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.