Fresh Graduate and Cambridge Footlight Brings "What Is Going On?" to Camden Fringe 2025

©️Photo by Paul Ashley

Following a sell-out Cambridge run, Footlight Sameera Bhalotra Bowers brings her “poignant, committed, absurd, and utterly delightful” (The Tab, ★★★★½, 2025) hour of stand-up, poetry, puppetry, character work and multimedia presentations to the Camden Fringe.

Having just graduated with a degree in Law and Economics, Sameera has absolutely no idea what’s next. Sure, she’s got big dreams—like landing the role as the Indian face on the Final Pathway Manor Nursing Home brochure. But in the meantime, she’s reciting poetry about university academics turning cows into spheres, taking questionable advice from a VIP love-life mentor, and is stuck in a car with two GPS systems going in different directions.

Meanwhile, her grandmother won’t stop calling her from India to ask about her post-uni plans. Sameera doesn’t pick up the phone. She isn’t ready to answer. Instead, she dives with her audience into surreal distractions, convinced that her answers are just around the corner.

"What is Going On?" promises to be one of the standout shows of Camden Fringe 2025: a genre bending hour of lyrical writing, clever comedy and emotional honesty.

©️Photo by Paul Ashley

Ticket Information:

Venue: The Etcetera Theatre, London
Dates: 21-23 August 2025
Time: 21st & 22nd, 7:00 pm | 23rd, 9:00 pm (60 mins)

Ticket Prices: £10
Suitable for: Age 12+

For more information, please visit: https://camdenfringe.com/events/what-is-going-on/

About Sameera:

Sameera is a 21-year-old former Cambridge Footlight and BFI short film competition winner. Her comedy film Lock-DIY-Down was screened on Channel 4 and featured by the BBC. She toured Europe as Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, making audiences “cry with laughter” (Varsity, 2025). Sameera’s 45-minute mockumentary, The Golden God, sold out two 100-seat venue screenings, and her short film on mental health, Michaelmas was a winner in both the Cambridge Shorts and Jesus Shorts competitions. One of the judges, Chief Executive of ScreenSkills Laura Mansfield, described it as “brave and thoughtful.” Sameera is performing in the 5-star comedy play Penelope Quadrangle at Edinburgh Fringe 2025, following a Cambridge run where her performance was described as “genius” (Varsity, 2024).

What Is Going On? marks Sameera’s solo debut at Camden Fringe.

©️Photo by Brixton Studios

“left me crying with laughter”
— Varsity, 2025

“Bowers’ performance is genius”
— Varsity, 2024

“priceless comedic timing”
— The Tab, 2024

“genuinely brilliant…outstanding performance”
— Varsity, 2023

“Bowers was scoring laughs with every facial expression”
— Varsity, 2022

“audience always laughing through her lines”
— The Tab, 2022

Creative Team

Director: Thomas Sweeney, Dom Andrew
Writer & Performer: Sameera Bowers
Producer: Lauren Herd, Michael Elizabeth
Publicity Designer: Michael Elizabeth
Script Editor: Amenie Groves, Flora Maxwell, Lily Butler, Margaret Saunderson, James Allen, Grace Wakeman
Lighting & Sound Designer: Sarah Marsh