Oh My My Theatre Company is performing at the Lambeth Fringe this year. I have caught up with them to find out more about their show.

Name of show and Venue details.

Be Gay, For God’s Sake

By Oh My My

Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th October, 8:30pm

Golden Goose Theatre

146 Camberwell New Road

Camberwell

London

SE5 0RR

What was the inspiration behind your show?

The inspiration came from real conversations we’ve had with our own families—as young, queer East Asians navigating two generations of silence, expectation, and survival. We were trying to understand not just our own queerness, but how our parents and elders had lived with theirs—or buried it.

At first, there was frustration: Why didn’t they speak up? Why didn’t they fight? But the more we listened, the more we realised how time, society, and fear shaped the choices they made. That realisation became the seed of our play.

We asked ourselves: What if we could rewrite the past—not to change history, but to open it up? What if time bent just enough for a second chance, or a long-overdue conversation?

That’s why our show plays with time travel, satire, and gods who may or may not help. It’s bold, it’s weird, it’s full of feeling—but most of all, it’s about trying to understand those we love, even across the silence.

How long has your production been in progress?

The initial idea for the show came from Haoyu, who developed the concept in June 2023. She shared it with a friend in China, who created a short play version in November that year.

In March 2024, Haoyu, Tianxin, and Hector officially began developing the full script together. We met regularly to collaborate and shape the piece, and by April 2025, we had completed a full draft and began submitting it to festivals under the name Oh My My.

We began rehearsals in June 2025 and had our premiere at Totnes Fringe Festival in July.

 

Where are planning on taking the play next?

 

We’ll be taking the show to the Voila! Theatre Festival this November. It will be performed at Theatre Deli on the following dates:

 

Friday 14th November at 20:00

 

Saturday 15th November at 19:00

 

Friday 21st November at 20:00

 

Saturday 22nd November at 19:30

 

After that, if we’re able to gain some support and funding, we plan to continue developing the piece and bring it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next year.

 

What would you like audiences to take away from your show?

Honestly? I’d love for people to walk out laughing, a little confused, and maybe texting their mum.

At its heart, this is a show about trying to say the unsayable—especially to the people closest to us. It’s about family, identity, queerness, and all the beautifully awkward moments that happen when those worlds collide.

We come from migrant backgrounds, so that naturally influences the work, but it’s not only about migration. It’s about those emotional translation errors that happen in every family—like when “I love you” sounds like “Did you drink your milk?”; “I’m proud of you” sounds like “Is this your new project?”; or “How much money do you need?” really means “I care about you”

If audiences leave feeling seen, or a bit more forgiving toward their parents (or themselves), that would be a win. And if they also feel like they just survived a family dinner where no one made eye contact? Even better.

What are you looking forward to most about performing your show?

We’re really looking forward to playing in front of different audiences. Last time we performed, it was in Totnes, in front of a lovely group of local audiences, including three pairs of older queer couples. As the play deals with the dynamics of different generations, we find that people are able to relate to different characters of the play. A younger generation might relate to the character of Shasha, the gay daughter, more than the prejudiced mother, Lin Song; whilst an older generation may easily relate to Song’s struggle and faith. What different audiences find humourous in the script is also a mystery. When we write, we know that certain things are cheeky to say, but we can never anticipate who will resonate with what, and to which degree. The play has a comedic element, and, for us, the greatest fun in comedy is the live feedback from the audience. To be able to sense the room, and play with the energy of the room is a great joy.

We also wonder who will relate to the dramatic and tragic part of the play. I think as both creators and performers of the show, everything pays off when someone comes up to you after the play and lets you know that they’ve been moved, or they’ve changed their minds on something because you pointed a torch at a corner in a shared experience that they weren’t able to name before.

We are looking forward to meeting our London audiences, and see what emotions spring out this time!

Why did you choose your particular Fringe venue?

 

We were assigned to the Golden Goose Theatre after being accepted into the Lambeth Fringe Festival. Previously, we had two performances at Totnes Fringe Festival, both in non-traditional venues with different stage configurations. This time, we wanted to present the show in a traditional pub theatre setting.

 

The play is framed as a lecture delivered by God to fellow gods, the audience, while the main action unfolds as a re-enactment of a past event. The play is a comedy. The configuration and atmosphere of the Golden Goose Theatre suit our staging style and storytelling structure. We’re excited to see how the work translates in a more conventional theatre space, and how that affects the audience’s experience of the piece.

 

Which shows at the Fringe are you planning on watching?

Hector: I plan to watch Anita and India: Little Prescott (WIP), as I know India and they’re an amazing clown! I know this show is probably going to be ridiculous and fun, and definitely don’t want to miss out on it!

Tianxin and Haoyu: We’re planning to see Let’s Try Gay at The Bread and Roses Theatre. It’s also a queer-themed comedy, and we’re interested in exploring how other artists approach similar topics—both in tone and in storytelling style. We’re especially curious to see the energy and vibe they bring to the stage, and how different creative voices express queer narratives.

Have you had any major hurdles to overcome to get this production on the stage?

 

As under-represented theatre-makers creating new work outside the mainstream, we’ve had to overcome many challenges. Without sponsors or patrons, and unable to work full-time in theatre, we developed this piece from scratch in the time we could carve out around our day jobs. It took us over a year to shape and polish the full story and arrive at a performance-ready script.

 

Our core team, Oh My My, is made up of three of us, Haoyu, Tianxin and Hector. We are the playwrights of the piece, and between us, we also take on directing, performing, producing, costume design, and stage management. Due to limited resources, we’ve not been able to expand our team, because we believe strongly in paying collaborators fairly. It’s a deeply collaborative process, but it also means we’re constantly juggling creative and logistical responsibilities. It’s a compromise, and a huge workload, but it’s what allows the piece to exist.

 

Time and resources are major hurdles. Like many others in our position, we currently don’t have the capacity to apply to major funding bodies, and even smaller or more accessible pots of funding are often out of reach when you’re balancing day jobs and creative work. Still, we chose to begin our journey with fringe festivals, where venue deals are more manageable, where new work can emerge on its own terms, and where under-heard voices have a platform.

 

We rehearsed in our homes ahead of our premiere at Totnes Fringe Festival simply because we couldn’t afford rehearsal space. But that experience made us more aware of what we need to improve the quality of our work. We’ve been actively seeking low-cost or in-kind rehearsal venues, and we’re open about the fact that even small amounts of funding could help us bring in additional creatives or performers, and pay them fairly.

 

Another challenge has been marketing. We don’t have a dedicated producer, and none of us comes from a marketing background. But getting audiences through the door is crucial, so we’re learning as we go, doing everything we can to reach people, build awareness, and connect with those who might resonate with the story we’re telling. We believe in this piece, and we believe there’s an audience for it.

 

Despite the constraints, we’re committed to making theatre happen. We’re writing, making, and performing not just because we want to, but because we have something urgent to say, and we believe fringe theatre is the right place to begin saying it.

 

What other productions have you previously been involved with?

 

Our collaborative relationship and friendship started from the production of “A Thousand Papercuts Still Skin Deep” (Barons Court Theatre, 2022), a fitting play about queer relationship and friendship. Since then, we have each been involved in different productions, different genres of theatre.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DKb0lDzo_34/?hl=en

https://www.goldengoosetheatre.co.uk/whatson/be-gay-for-gods-sake

https://lambethfringe.com/events/be-gay-for-gods-sake

https://www.theatredeli.co.uk/Event/enddate-be-gay-for-gods-sake-by-oh-my-my

                ——————-

Haoyu Wang is a Mandarin and English bilingual performer and theatre maker based in London, originally raised in Inner Mongolia, China. Haoyu’s recent theatre credits include: Migration (2024, London), choreography by Adrian Look；Where Are You From (2023, Shanghai)；AfterLifeOverTime (2023, London)； Knee High to a Grasshopper with Wings (2023, London), choreography by Adrian Look； Better (2022, London) with Brunk; A Thousand Papercuts Still Skin Deep (2022, London) with Irrelevant Theatre; Choking Game (2022, London)

 

Tianxin is a Chinese theatre director based in London. Her most recent directing credits include Where Are You From (Shanghai), A Thousand Papercuts Still Skin Deep (Barons Court Theatre), Choking Game (Omnibus Theatre, Bloomsbury Festival), The Slug Show (Camden People’s Theatre). Tianxin’s work as Playwright and Director includes Where Are You From, A Report to an Academy · LIVE (Livestream on TikTok, PRISM Mini Theatre Festival), Paper Crown based on My Life as an Emperor by Su Tong (Corbett Theatre and Bloomsbury Theatre).

 

Hector has been a writer, puppeteer, actor, and theatre-maker. Notable projects include the puppetry short film River’s World (commissioned by Little Angel Theatre), the mask/object theatre solo show Why We Left Home (Blue Elephant Theatre), the puppetry/object theatre show Lost Personhood (The Hope Theatre), the puppetry show Where the Water Falls (Little Angel Theatre), and the interdisciplinary exhibition My Haunted Dollhouse (The Tate Institute/REinsTATE).