Sharp Edges, a one-woman drama written and performed by Sophie Max that takes its cue from Sophocles’ Electra, runs at Camden People’s Theatre for four days only, 11-14 November 2026.
Sharp Edges opens at Camden People’s Theatre on Wednesday 11 November 2026 and plays five performances up to Saturday 14 November, with press night on Thursday 12 November at 7pm. Sophie Max wrote the piece and is its only performer. Blair McAlpine directs and Zac Hamilton Wancke produces, with set design by Jida Akil, lighting by Laurel Marks and sound by José Guillermo Puello.
The play keeps the shape of the Greek tragedy but moves it into the present. Its centre is Ellie, now 24, who has spent years planning to settle a score with her mother. As a girl she worshipped her father and felt pushed away by her mum. When she was six, her dad and her older sister vanished on the same night, and home grew more violent from then on. Now her mother is threatening to throw her out, and Ellie sees one last chance to act. Underneath sits a harder question: can a child raised around violence ever step outside it? The tone is darkly comic, for all the weight of the subject.
The run is staged in partnership with One in Four, the charity that supports survivors of child sexual abuse, violence and trauma. Across the week the production will draw attention to the charity’s work, explain how people can back it, and point anyone in the audience who needs help towards its resources.
Max explained what drew her to the source: “The story of Electra has always resonated deeply for me: as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and long-time advocate for ending violence against women and girls, I saw, in her, a mirror – a girl shaped by violence, grief, and confusion, trying to make sense of a fractured world and family.”
She added: “Yet my Ellie is fierce, dry, defiant, and funny, despite it all. I hope audiences fall in love with Ellie as much as I have and consider what it means to grow up in darkness and still fight for light.”
Max works as both writer and actor. Her play Til It Stops, seen at Culture Lab in New York and at the Cockpit Theatre, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and the RSC’s 37 Plays Project, and shortlisted for Bold Playwrights. Banned appeared at the Bush Theatre in Bomb Factory Theatre’s showcase of new women writers, then had a run at The Hope Theatre in 2025. On screen she has appeared in We Were The Lucky Ones (Hulu/Disney+), and her award-winning short film The Whole Truth is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
The show lasts 75 minutes with no interval and is recommended for ages 14 and over; it contains references to violence, murder and childhood sexual abuse. Performances are Wednesday to Friday at 7pm, with two on Saturday at 3pm and 7pm. Camden People’s Theatre is at 58-60 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PY. Tickets are £18, or £12 for concessions.
