Saving the Princess at Hen & Chickens Theatre

Grab a controller and get ready to play Save The Princess. Princess Plum is about to get kidnapped... again, but there’s a glitch and now she’s off on her own adventure across the video game multiverse.

It’s time to level up as the innovative theatre company The UnDispoables launches its latest update to the gaming and theatrical universe Save The Princess for audiences as part of the Camden Fringe. From a female-led creative team of gamers based in High Wycombe, the show promises to bend the narratives and engage audiences in a new form of live entertainment that they can interact with.

Inspired by choose-your-own-adventure video and board games, the team behind Save The Princess has created something truly unique that gives theatrical audiences a sense of ownership and responsibility over the storyline on stage.  Written by Esther Joy Mackay Using an online web application to play the game (no need to download anything!), Save the Princess offers multiple possible worlds to explore and endings to the play. 

Following Princess Plum, an unlikely protagonist who’s decided to put an end to her damsel-in-distress programming – the show launches into a multiverse journey encountering a host of wacky characters and parodies from iconic video games.  When Plum makes an abnormal choice to refuse her destined Mario-style kidnapping, the game glitches and puts the audience in control, dictating which direction the plot follows throughout in a bid to uncover a cryptic prophecy and fix what’s broken. 

Writer and performer Esther Mackay comments, As a company, we all love video games, and so we’ve had a lot of fun playing with the lore and logic many games follow, as well as poking some fun at how rubbish the role of women is sometimes portrayed as within gaming and gaming communities.  At its heart Save the Princess was created to be entertaining.  To make people laugh and come together in a room, and leave with loads of questions to keep them guessing about what they could have done differently.

Save the Princess was originally commissioned to be a part of the VAULT Festival having been shortlisted for The VAULT 5 in 2022.  Following VAULT Festival's cancellation, and having been a Les Enfants Terribles (LET) award Finalist in 2023, the company made their Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2023, performing for one week at The Space’s Fleming Theatre. With a date also at the Wycombe Arts Centre on Saturday 27th July at Wycombe Arts Centre. 

Founded in 2017, The UnDisposables is a critically acclaimed theatre company based in High Wycombe making its Camden Fringe debut. The female-led creative team looks to deliver ambitious tech-infused productions The company is dedicated to empowering emerging artists and under-represented voices. The core values revolve around platforming a diverse range of female-identifying voices in the arts.

Sunday 11th August, 7.30 pm
Monday 12th August, 9 pm

Tuesday 13th August, 9 pm
Tuesday 14th August, 6 pm