Review: CAMP, The Lion And Unicorn Theatre

Becky (Camille Wilhelm), Felix (Nicholas Marrast-Lewis), and Mary (Fizz Waller) are spending the summer at Camp in the hopes of earning their Gay-Card. In-between classes about the LGBTQ+ community, how to deal with harassment, and how to be inclusive, they learn that support and understanding are all it takes to navigate a society where queer is everything people aspire to be.

Written by Kimberley Turford and James Easey (who also directs), Camp is a playful and cheeky queer comedy. Mary has left her religious husband because she likes women, Felix has been sent by his mums (with a healthy stock of lube), and Becky conciliates being bisexual in a universe where individuals can only be one thing or the other. As they discuss the meaning of belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, they bring up clichés and tropes that ultimately make the play a bit sticky.

It's undeniably a lot of fun to watch them bicker about silly misunderstandings while also addressing major prejudice and giving the audience trivia tidbits on queer history. It's unfortunate that the piece remains too prosaic and unsubtle in its delivery, opting for a method that's slightly too on-the-nose with the trio being used as figurines to portray a definite group instead of having precise and personal characterisation.

Turford and Easey create a club, shaping the silly front of the show with a non-heterosexual style of humour and building the rest onto a classical high school drama structure that's only a tad too preachy. They write, however, generally lovable characters that stand up for their labels and educate each other on their identity and the significance of their journeys. These latter elements might be the ones that keep it too anchored to the ground, limiting its reach and sophistication.

Nonetheless, it's lovely to see an attempt to inform the public on the barriers of stereotypes. It's also especially delightful to have the B in the acronym represented when too many queer shows have the tendency to use only umbrella terms as their spearheads.

Camp runs at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 24 August as part of Camden Fringe.

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