Interview: Phoebe Ladenburg, ‘Surrender’

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Phoebe Ladenburg about Surrender.

Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far..

I am an actor and director. I’ve been making theatre for about twenty years in lots of different situations and in many different roles. I’ve specialised in new writing, working with writers from the very earliest stages of an idea right up to conception. I have tried three times in my life so far to leave theatre behind and find something more sensible to do but I have failed every time - it’s got me good!

What is your show about?

Surrender is the story of a woman who is meeting her daughter for the first time in over 10 years. She would urgently like her daughter to hear her version of events, which she knows will be different to the version her daughter has been told by others. But there's a problem - she can't quite remember what happened. She can't remember which bits she made up, which bits others made up. We watch as she tries to sift through her sleep-deprived memories to come up with a version that will repair their relationship.

What was the inspiration for Surrender and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

A year after my child was born, I was auditioning some prospective students at the drama school I work at. One candidate presented Kate’s final monologue from Taming of the Shrew - the one where she asks the women in the audience to stop fighting the patriarchy and submit. For the first time, I felt a huge connection to this piece in relation to my experience of motherhood. I commissioned Sophie to write something based on this and she wrote a beautiful poem in iambic pentameter. Then, over the years, my experiences working with prison leavers and those in the social care system, started influencing and shaping the story of Mother and, eventually, Surrender emerged.

Sophie and I have worked together several times over the past eight or so years. This is our most collaborative creation so far and it has been an utter delight - we get a lot from each other.

Surrender had three previews at Tom Thumb Theatre in Margate in 2023, and played at the Arcola in London this summer.

What made you want to take Surrender to the Fringe?

Sophie’s play, Bacon, was a huge success at last year’s fringe, so this was a natural route for us. I lived in Edinburgh for 5 years so it will be really lovely to re-connect to the city.

Apart from seeing Surrender, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?

Concentrate on your own knitting! Stay sane.

Why should people book Surrender?

If they’d like to see some soul, we’ll probably show them some.

When and where can people see Surrender?

1-26th August (13:55pm) at Tech Cube Zero, Summerhall.