Unforgivable Crime of Love: Fringe World Premiere 24 Oct

A new solo show about Reed Peggram, a Black scholar from Boston who went to Paris in 1939, gets its first ever performance at Three Wise Monkeys on Colchester High Street at 4pm on Saturday 24 October. The Unforgivable Crime of Love is written and performed by Les Kurkendaal-Barrett, an American storyteller who is bringing work to the Colchester Fringe for the fourth time. He plays it six times between 24 October and 1 November, and nobody anywhere has seen it before.

That last point is what he wanted readers to know. In the release he sent us, he says he returns to Colchester “not with an established touring production, but with something entirely new: the first public performances anywhere in the world of The Unforgivable Crime of Love.”

The story on stage

Peggram, in the release’s words, was “a brilliant young Black scholar from Boston who travelled to Paris in 1939, seeking a life beyond the racial restrictions of America. But history had other plans.”

The festival’s listing for the show fills in where those plans went. In Paris, it says, Peggram “falls deeply in love with Arne Hauptmann, a Danish scholar. As Nazi Germany advances across Europe, Reed refuses to abandon the man he loves. Their interracial queer relationship draws the attention of fascist authorities, eventually leading to their imprisonment in an Italian concentration camp.”

“Separated, starving, and hunted, the two men risk everything to escape and survive behind enemy lines,” the listing goes on. “Their remarkable journey becomes a story of love and resistance, and survival against a racist and homophobic world!”

The release frames the show around a single question: “what happens when the simple act of loving another human being becomes something society refuses to forgive.” It describes the piece as “a story of race, survival, identity and love”, built by “blending meticulous historical research with Kurkendaal-Barrett’s deeply personal style of storytelling”, and says it “brings a little-known chapter of Black and LGBTQ+ history to the stage.”

Who is performing it

Kurkendaal-Barrett is billed by the festival as Kurkendaal Barrett Presentations, from Los Angeles. His release describes him as “an award-winning American actor, writer and solo performer whose work combines autobiography, history, race, sexuality and humor”, and says the new show “continues Kurkendaal-Barrett’s exploration of the people and stories that history has too often pushed to the margins.”

Colchester has seen him before. The release lists two awards from this festival, International Pick of the Fringe and Artists Pick at Colchester Fringe, alongside:

• Pick of the Fringe Audience Award at Prague Fringe
• Fringe Encore Producers Pick at Cincinnati Fringe
• Patrons Pick at Orlando Fringe
• the Doric Wilson Award at Dublin’s International Gay Theatre Festival

Dates, times and tickets

All six performances are on the top floor of Three Wise Monkeys, 60 High Street, Colchester CO1 1DN. The show runs 55 minutes.

Each performance was priced at £13 on the Colchester Fringe box office when we checked on 6 October; the summary box on the same page says £12, so check the price when you book. The festival rates the show suitable for ages 12 and over, and lists no sensitive content warnings.

Two things the festival flags before you book:

• Stairs. There is no lift to the top floor of Three Wise Monkeys. It is five flights of stairs with handrails, with rest opportunities between each flight.
• Late shows and under-18s. The venue’s licence does not allow anyone under 18 to be inside after 9pm. The Wednesday 28 October performance starts at 8.30pm and runs 55 minutes, so it finishes after 9pm.

The 2026 Colchester Fringe runs from 21 October to 1 November across the city; the full programme is on the Colchester Fringe website. Our Colchester what’s on guide for this month has the rest of the autumn diary.