The next interview in our Stagey Chat series is with Sam Edmunds. Sam is the writer of The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return, which opens at Southwark Playhouse Borough this September.

Of course! I am Sam Edmunds the Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the multi-award-winning Chalk Line Theatre company, which I set up in 2018 to platform marginalised voices tackling socio-political issues. I first got hooked in this industry by a brilliant drama teacher called David Lloyd, who co-runs Next Generation Youth Theatre in Luton, which is where I discovered my love for the craft. Back then I was an actor, I even went on to train as an actor at East 15 Acting School, but I always knew I wanted to make theatre. So once I graduated I instantly formed a company and decided to take on this beast of an industry. Since then I have been lucky enough to tour new work across the UK and internationally. This play, The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return, is my first stab back at writing after a five year break and it's been so enjoyable! I’m very lucky to call myself an award winning writer now after winning the Inaugural Best New Writing award at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, with the play now in top 1% of BBC open submissions.

Yes, this play is based on my actual life, so all the characters, events, and locations in the play are an amalgamation or exaggeration of real things. Ultimately it is a playful and heartbreaking coming of age story about two boys who feel suffocated by the town they live in. It’s set in Luton, post the 2008 financial crash in a time of major austerity, where like a lot of the UK, working class communities were hit the worst. I explore the effects that this has on young people, their hopes and dreams in a shattered world, and how they absorb the hurt and suffering of those around them. When a town is full of anger and has nowhere to put it, how easily that breeds violence, and how that violence becomes a form of ‘protection’ even though it causes the most catastrophic consequences. Without giving too much of a spoiler away - the play tells this through the lens of knife crime, something I was surrounded by when I was younger. It’s a love letter to my town but it also doesn't shy away from the dangerous side of it. It’s also a throw back to the noughties, the most fun and crazy era that millennials treasure. It’s a combination of social commentary and pop culture celebration.

Yes! We are redesigning our set specifically to the Southwark Playhouse, making it bigger, bolder and more playful. Our technical design has also been pushed adding new fun and WOW moments in the piece. Our cast has changed, meaning the interpretation of the characters will be fresh and new, alongside small script additions and more dynamic staging. We are pushing the boat out to make this a special one - so don't miss it!

I was really desperate for an authentic working class story that felt like it was full of hope alongside the negative dialogue that often comes from exploring repression in poor communities. I wanted to tell a story of the epic-ness of what it means to grow up in a working class town, the things you experience, the tactics you employ to get by, the people you meet. Through that it has become a love letter to my town but also a commentary on why my town has the perception it does. It's a dive into our history, our community, our people.

I started reflecting on how this affected me and other young people, why Luton has its reputation, why I grew up surrounded by so much anger and violence. For those that don't know, my era was the era of the rise of Tommy Robinson, the rise of the EDL, radicalisation in the town, lots of immigration causing cultural divide - it was a tense and hostile time in some areas. All of this was ongoing whilst jobs were short, housing was depleted and people couldn't afford to get by. So this play became an interrogation of the repression and suffocation of working class communities like Luton, but through the lens of how this affected young people. How when there's so much anger and nowhere to put it, and there are no schemes of protection for people, that can often breed violence.

I tell all of this through the lens of a house party because it isn't a pity party. Yes the above sounds heavy but this is filtered through the play and disrupts the joy, with the joy ultimately winning. The other focus of this piece is exploring a moment of first times, first kisses, first parties - it's a throwback to your youth, where everything feels BIG and SCARY and BRILLIANT. Its a big vibe and a good time out.

I wouldn't be the right person to write this but I would encourage someone to turn Prize Women by

Caroline Lea into a play! It’s a fictionalised version of a true story that happened in Canada and I COULD NOT believe it was true! It's another brilliant tale of how strong people survive terrible times.

I genuinely think this has everything you look for in a show - hilarious, heart breaking, amazing actors,

incredible set design, socially relevant, nostalgic for any millennial or parent of a millennial, gets you up dancing, is critically acclaimed by people like The Guardian, The Stage, WhatsOnStage. I promise you one of the best nights at the theatre you could have! Come and champion a working class story that is never given a profile like this, take a chance on new work, you will not regret it!

You can book tickets to The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return, here.