Cameron Kuwayti, Elliot Metcalf, Fern Wallenberg, Arabella Ho, Alicia Goncalves, John Beer Principe in Camp! | Photo by Stefi Kopp
Presented by Mixtape Projects and Bravo Academy
Let’s cut to the chase. You want to know if the team with two hit Fringe musicals, Killing Time and Iris (says goodbye), have done it again. Is Camp! a worthy follow-up? Real talk, folks: so far, it’s one of my top five Fringe experiences. Ever. Is that the post-show adrenaline talking? So what if it is? These kids knocked me right out! I was tearing up even before the touching bits because it’s just such a well crafted, guileless and exuberant piece of theatre.
An essential aspect of this production—which i’ve been holding my breath for ever since catching a snippet at Bad Hat’s New Bad Ideas Live—is that they are kids. Set in a summer camp, all of these adorable characters are portrayed by a troupe of adolescent performers. The material is top notch, of course, Ben Kopp (music and lyrics) and Margot Greve (book and direction) know exactly what they’re doing, but its artful sincerity is so palpable here because of this cast.
Camp Clover has many traditions. It has a song—up to 91 verses now! It has a tuck shop. It has a theatre play and canoeing and charades, oh my! Songs highlight these features of the camp while also providing insight into the kids as individuals and a group. Both the characters and the audience are well-primed for the much-anticipated game of Capture the Flag, especially climactic here as a showdown between August (Jordan Gurbin) and Nova (Kayla Morgan)—newly estranged camp counsellors.
August and Nova are Camp Clover legends. The story affords them a mythos, which the other kids have internalized—from their meet-cute at age 9, through their camp careers, and now this recent feud has upset the balance for their final summer at camp. This is the narrative’s primary tension and mystery. The kids fret, scramble and scheme to solve this mystery, relieve the tension and restore harmony.
Jordan Gurbin and Kayla Morgan in Camp! | Photo by Stefi Kopp
Gurbin and Morgan have ample chemistry, heart and nuance to bear the weight of this lore. Bolstered by fine writing and emphatic direction, they offer an emotive, honest and surprisingly insightful portrait of a strained friendship. As the circumstances of their rift are revealed, we glimpse how people grow and evolve, how easily we can dismiss, overthink and sabotage ourselves. And, ultimately, how we can acknowledge and accept change.
The entire ensemble is just a dream to behold. Y’all, I’m almost 50 and I was thoroughly star struck by these youngsters. So let’s shout the rest of them out: John Beer Principe (Vinny), Arabella Ho (Moira), Elliot Metcalf (Max), Fern Wallenberg (Clara), Cameron Kuwayti (Leo), Alicia Goncalves (Frances). Another favourite dynamic here is between Leo and Frances (August and Nova’s younger siblings) as “secret friends”—Kuwayti and Goncalves are a winning, consistently funny duo.
With little more than some log stools and a couple of rustic sign-boards (constructed by Quynh Diep), this cast fully manifest the vibes to make Camp Clover absolutely real to us. Mathilda Kane’s evocative lighting completes the rich and compelling atmosphere. Greve’s direction (and her choreography with Alli Carry) is consistently dynamic and purposeful, but one of the most stunning in its beautiful simplicity is a sequence in which time itself expands and contracts during a game of charades as August, angst-ridden about his future and the nature of time, drifts through the surreal episode.
Not a single one of its 90 minutes is wasted and this has all the markers of a Fringe Phenomenon, so if you’re intrigued, I wouldn’t hesitate on scooping tix. I’ve already secured my spot for the closing performance because I will not be missing out on another stay Camp Clover!
Wow. What a comprehensive, insightful review. I’m buying my tickets NOW!