Q&A with UK Fringe Artists Red Kitchen Collective

Location: London, UK

Show: Tall Tails

Red Kitchen Collective is a group of five American women living in London; Nikola Carouso, Emma Kowalchuk, Brianna Price, Alexa Stevens, and Holly Taylor. Joining the cast for their 2026 Lambeth Fringe run are Canadian-born Maggie Trepanier and Jennifer Kehoe.

About Tall Tails

On an endless quest for self-improvement, four mermaids arrive on land to attend a wellness retreat. The retreat leader, a mysterious guru named Josh, promises to cure the mermaids’ “people pleasing” tendencies through Cod’s wisdom. As the girls work together through the retreats’ activities, tales of past faux pas and undersea antics bring them closer together. But as their insecurities float to the surface, something smells fishy… Blending authentic anxieties with surreal humor, Tall Tails is an original, genre-bending piece that speaks to a generation of over-thinkers trying to heal.

What made you want to share Tall Tails?

It was an amalgamation of so many different circumstances– first, we knew we wanted to make a show about mermaids. We lovingly poke fun at self-help and wellness culture, so the idea of mermaids attending a retreat slowly began to take shape. Then, as we started writing, we found ourselves constantly overapologizing to each other, like “hi guys I just wrote this scene, but if you hate it that’s totally cool I won’t be mad!”, et cetera et cetera. We each became so frustrated with our own lack of self–confidence– we’d often ask ourselves, would a group of guys writing their first play spend this much time crashing out over not being good enough? Through this realization, the people pleasers’ retreat, and our exploration of the male gaze was born.

What was it like sorting out mermaid costumes? 

One of our co-producers and co-writers, Nikola Carouso, is an absolutely phenomenal costume designer. She had visions for each of the specific mermaids and brought them each to life. One might wonder how a human could play a mermaid when we have legs? Nikola gave each mermaid a tail that is functional, but also believable. Once she had these costumes designed, she had her friends Magali Sumkotter and Liam Dreamione assemble them with great care. All the costumes Nikola did, she did by hand with one sewing needle, nonetheless!

Tell us something special about your show?

This show is so special, how often do you get a script birthed out of five different brains? The reason our production company is called Red Kitchen Collective is because Tall Tails was made by us, sitting in our kitchen, sweets around the table, talking out all of the details of the show all together. It is a show that is truly founded on friendship– and is, in a way, the purest form of “farm to table,” but make it “friendship to theatre.”

You created the show as a collective; what was the best part of that process?

One of the best moments of creating the show as a collective was how collaborative the space was. It felt like there was a lot of playfulness in the air, which led us to really be able to dive into the childlike whimsy and wonder, while still fleshing out themes that have been presented to us in our adult bodies. Art really does imitate life in so many ways, and it was so funny to see the irony in how we caught ourselves being people pleasers at different points in the process. While this could have been viewed as a challenge, it also helped us get more in touch with the elements of people-pleasing that are so common in our everyday lives. These habits become subconscious to us, so we want to bring them to light for audiences.

What do you hope audiences will leave with?

First of all, we want to make you laugh. We hope that watching Tall Tails feels like staying up late at a sleepover, giggling and spilling secrets with your best friends. But beyond all the fish puns and sparkles, we hope audiences will resonate with the painful cycle of people-pleasing. We believe that everyone falls somewhere along a spectrum of people-pleasing, and women experience compounded pressure in a patriarchal world. By centering women in a story about the male gaze, we hope to break the cycles that perpetuate our people-pleasing, over-apologizing, and fear of sticking up for ourselves.

How are you finding audiences responding to the themes in the show? 

We have found that audiences have been very receptive to the themes of the show. People-pleasing is a relatable concept that is easy to grasp, as it is something that is so prominent within society through over-apologizing, difficulty saying no, hiding your honest opinion, etc. In some capacity, we all do it. And when exposing these tendencies comes through a mermaid tail/tale, all the more exciting for the audience.

What is the one thing you can not fringe without?

The one thing we cannot live without is sugar. Red Kitchen Collective is absolutely run on sugar in many forms – cookies, dates, chocolate, with our recent obsession being my mom’s pumpkin bread – perfectly timed for autumn. Having sweet treats to snack on throughout the process really helps us bring out the nostalgic elements of girlhood and friendship into the space… and powers those late-night rehearsals and production meetings. The amount of times we have been to Udderlicious after rehearsal is something that should be studied!

Catch Tall Tails at Lambeth Fringe Festival, Oct 19-21, 8:30pm @ the Golden Goose Theatre. Get tickets HERE.

Follow Tall Tails on Instagram @officialtalltails