Camp Rejuvenation

March 17, 2013
“Camp Rejuvenation”: Theatre Review

By: Tammy Yao

When you think about watching a 15-minute play performed and scripted by a bunch of teenagers, you expect cheesy comedy, love triangles or a cut-down, knock –off version of the famous “High School Musical”; predictable, clichéd and simply not organized. “Camp Rejuvenation”, however, performed beautifully by 6 drama pupils, completely took me by surprise with a fresh, imaginative play revolving around a group of distinct individuals, attending a “camp getaway” that is aimed to cleanse and, as the title says, rejuvenate the soul with the guidance of Guru Shanti (Andrew Melrose).

15-minute comedy plays are normally the type of shows that have a meaningless plot, yet you watch them anyway for fun, laugh about it three days later then eventually forget about them. I suppose that this production would be placed into this category; however there is something about Camp Rejuvenation that makes me think it’s more than that. Firstly, the plot was not meaningless. It had humour, drama and a dash of romance.

The set was cleverly utilized and arranged to create a realistic campsite, considering the fixed structure of the set. Doors and the varying levels of the stage were used strategically and clearly according to each scene of the play, and inside the set, a wonderful ensemble of young, aspiring actors play.

The play starts with a jolly, turbaned and English-accented Guru Shanti (Andrew Melrose), welcoming a group of individuals, who hope to change their inner selves spiritually. The five campers include your typical cowboy- Bill Scott (Luis Recto), English old-timer Rosalind Pritchett (Amelia Wooster), a young Scottish man Samuel Wilkinson (Jamie Young), Becky Johnson (Siobhan Moylan) the parole officer who may fancy Sammy, and of course, what is a play without the mean, spoilt teenager Chanelle Jackson (Ayesha Baloch). The five characters in the play are entirely different which lead to...