Published: 29 July 2010
by HEATHER McKAY

FOXES strike a cautionary note in the ear of Londoners these days, but now an Islington playwright has dramatised the plight of these sly creatures. Philippa Tatham, 28, of Holloway, took inspiration from the foxes in nearby Brecknock Road when writing The Adventures of Sydney and Arabella: the Exiled Urban Foxes, which will be staged as part of the Camden Fringe festival. 

The idea for the play arose from a joke between Philippa and her colleague Sophia Morphew, with whom she co-founded theatre group Dirty Martini.

It has its roots in a true story about an animal rights group who attempted to “liberate” foxes to the countryside. 

“They loved the idea of foxes coming to this idyllic, green, peaceful place,” she says, “and it turns out all the foxes wanted is a Korma thrown up on the pavement at midnight.”

Philippa often observes the local foxes’ behaviour from her window.

“As you walk along the canals in Islington you can hear them,” she says. “And it genuinely sounds like a woman being murdered.” 

The attack believed to have been carried out by a fox on two nine-month-old twins in Hackney in June has had a ripple effect.

“There is no way to get around it without mentioning recent events,” says Philippa.

“Events this year have made people realise that they can be vicious. They are predators but I think in London they still have a place in our heart.”

Even though Philippa describes herself as an anti-hunt, non-leather-wearing vegetarian, she still gets on with Sophia, who is a hunt supporter.

“We have learnt not to talk about politics,” she says. “She did invite me to go along to a hunt to do the catering and I said, what shall I give them, Quorn burgers?”

Arabella and Sydney are foxes who are accustomed to the good life of rummaging through the Ritz’s dustbins. 

In the play they encounter a lunatic mink and Nigel, the only gay fly in the wood. 

• The Adventures of Sydney and Arabella, the Exiled Urban Foxes is at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden High Street, NW1 from August 13-14. For tickets see www.camdenfringe.org or call 08444 77 1000.