31/08/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Joan Rubinski (Amy Sedaris) is a bit of a theatrical legend. She has been running her summer theatre camp for young performers for many years. But, when she suffers a debilitating fit (caused by exposure to strobe lights), her outfit is left without a leader. So it falls to her son, Troy (Jimmy Tatro), to step up to the plate and fill her tap shoes, despite having no experience of drama whatsoever. Troy is an ‘influencer’, who thinks he has what it takes to overhaul the business.

Unfortunately, he has to try to deal with a whole horde of regular teachers, who have been doing this for donkeys years and who clearly view him as an unwelcome addition to the ranks. They include drama coach, Amos (Ben Platt), and his soulmate, music tutor Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon). The duo actually met at the camp as students and fell in love – but, since Amos came out, their co-dependency can perhaps best be described as ‘complicated’. There’s Rita Cohen (Caroline Aaron), Joan’s no-nonsense right-hand woman, who seems to have a talent for always saying the wrong thing and there’s new recruit, Janet (Eyo Edebiri), who has as much experience in drama as Troy, but is determined to bluff her way through…

This charming and sometimes very funny mockumentary comes from a team of people who clearly know their subject well. Depicted in a series of short, snappy scenes (but for once eschewing the straight-to-camera interviews that are so often utilised in fake docs), we are witness to the three weeks of frantic work it takes to put together a summer show, a tribute to their beloved leader, entitled Joan, Still. We witness the trials and tribulations of creating a musical from not very much by a cohort of bright, eager students, all of whom have their eyes set on their own individual goals. (I particularly enjoy the diminutive boy who has decided he’s born to be… an agent.)

When Troy is romanced by the villainous Caroline (Patti Harrison), who works with a neighbouring, more upwardly-mobile youth theatre group, bankruptcy hovers in the wings and it’s going to take considerable wheeling and dealing on his part if he’s to save his mother’s camp. Can the team forget their various differences and work towards a solution?

Anyone who enjoyed Summer Heights High, back in the day, will get a kick out of Theater Camp, which shares some DNA with the legendary Mr G. It’s sprightly, silly and a lot of fun. Now, if only there were a rousing singalong to finish it all off… oh, wait a minute, turns out they’ve actually written one!

4 stars

Philip Caveney