An Interview with Peckham Fringe’s Vanessa Bunn

Attention Londoners and beyond: Peckham Fringe is back for a third year. We sat down with Peckham Fringe Festival Ambassador Vanessa Bunn to dig into the festival's cultural contribution...

By George Maguire | Updated Apr 8 2024

Hi Vanessa, could you tell us about how you came to be an Ambassador of Theatre Peckham?

I became an Ambassador because when I moved on from my role on the staff team at Theatre Peckham, about four years ago now, my heart very much stayed behind. I catch every performance/event I can, keep in touch with the community I became part of there and bend the ear of anyone who will listen about the great work that Theatre Peckham do at every opportunity.

When I was offered a role as an Ambassador, it felt like a way to formalise the relationship I already had with Theatre Peckham and to look for even more ways to be/stay involved.

Kicking off on the 1st May, Peckham Fringe is described as ‘the festival for everyone’. Could you explore what this means?

Theatre Peckham embraces storytelling in all its’ gloriously various manifestations and Peckham Fringe, with a line-up which includes drama, comedy, spoken word, musicals, clowning, film and works in progress, embodies this spirit wholeheartedly.

It’s the festival for everyone because it gives people opportunities to lean into things they expect to like and try out things they don’t yet know are for them. It’s not everywhere that embraces variousness in a way that allows for both.

Peckham Fringe has a brand-new line-up for 2024 - what was the selection process like?

The entries received are divided between all the Ambassadors involved for initial consideration and shortlisting, then we all we bring our selections forward and make the case for them to be included in the programme – this includes lively debate and sharing our unique perspectives with one another. I don’t think there’s an obvious common thread in terms of themes or content, and I think that’s one of the strengths of Peckham Fringe as a festival.

As Ambassadors with our connection to SE London and Theatre Peckham in common, we have very various tastes and interests. In collaborating to put together a festival for our community, a line-up that speaks to various tastes and interests is therefore pretty much a guarantee.

In terms of creative energy, what do you feel is special about Peckham?

I’m generally wary of making sweeping statements about the creative energy of Peckham and South East London. We’re already navigating the kind of accelerated gentrification that happens when somewhere becomes the postcode for ‘arty’ people with lots of money to flock to, usually at the expense of those responsible for the creative energy that attracted them in the first place.

With that disclaimer, I wonder if there’s something about this area of London not being on the underground line, it feels like if you’re here, you’ve either been here or you’ve made your way here with purpose. And I often sense that kind of intentionality embedded in the work of local artists and makers, we say what we mean, and we mean what we say. I’d also say that to exist at all, storytelling requires listeners just as much as it needs tellers, and there’s an openness and reciprocity about the energy here that allows stories to be told to their fullest. Come and see something at Peckham Fringe, you’ll see what I mean.

Peckham sits within the wider London cultural scene. Where do you go for inspiration?

I don’t feel the need to cross the river too much to be honest, but the National Portrait Gallery will always get me into town, I went to The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure last weekend and it’s such an important and illuminating exhibition. I’m very into and inspired by photography and London is a wonderful place to be for retrospectives and celebrations of some of my favourites like Nan Goldin and Liz Johnson Artur.

I’m fascinated by nature and interesting architecture in equal measure, and there are lots of pockets of London where the two combine to delight and inspire me, like the Barbican Conservatory or the garden at St Dunstan in the East. All that said, it doesn’t get much better than a slow wander around Peckham under blue skies in cherry blossom season!

To learn more, check out Peckham Fringe 2024.