“Once a body is in a bog, I suppose it becomes a bog body, doesn’t it?”

Finn isn’t entirely sure how he ended up here. Last night, he was driving through the middle of nowhere to meet a stranger who had something very important to tell him, when his car suddenly… well, something weird happened. He was probably overtired. 

When he wakes up in a house deep in isolated marshland, inhabited by a young woman called Martha, her peculiar father Peter, and their even more peculiar housekeeper Abigail, something isn’t right. Martha is always talking to someone out on the marsh; Peter seems to know more about Finn than he should; Abigail keeps telling him to be careful. It’s clear that the car crash was no accident – but who brought him here, and why?

Fathom is a feminist, folk-horror retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest set against the landscape of the Fens. This is a murky, mischievous, and darkly funny new play that plumbs the depths of rural England – and those who call it their home.

Fathom first appeared as a work-in-progress preview at the Cambridge Junction in April 2026, where audiences described it as “moody and funny”, and “rooted in folklore but entirely original”. Suffolk-based creative Gina Stock returns to direct a full production of this East Anglian thriller. Fathom is written by Imogen Usherwood, the 2025-26 Peter Shaffer Playwright-in-Residence at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Praise for Usherwood’s previous work:
★★★★½ ‘humour, punk, and pathos […] as ridiculous as it is moving.’ – Per Capita 
‘Emotionally intelligent, engaging, and witty […] Usherwood’s writing shines with an undeniable sincerity, making her one to watch out for.’ – EdFringe Review 
★★★★ ‘Magical to watch […] complex and clever with emotions. Ghosts rarely feel as real as this.’  – Edinburgh Reviews

 

Running Time - 70 minutes

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UNDER 18s ARE NOT PERMITTED INTO THE THEATRE FOR THIS PERFORMANCE. 

Latecomers may not be admitted. 
Refunds and exchanges are not available.