joe orton

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

The Erpingham Camp was Joe Orton's reworking of the classic Greek tale The Bacchae; a fun palace revolution; only set in a holiday camp. Being a co-production with the Liverpool based comedy club, Rawhide, and having two of Merseyside's comic heavyweights amongst its cast (in the form of Terry Titter and Johnny Vegas) great things were expected of this play. Unfortunately they never came.

A representative group of sturdy English folk respectably pleasuring themselves at a 1960s holiday camp, find themselves subjected to the influence of a group of redcoats and their demonically rigid manager, the moral, petty and patronising Erpingham. As their holiday becomes a nightmare, the holiday makers are forced to cast aside their conventional habits and liberate themeselves, abandoning themeselves to impulse.

Propriety comes in the form of the dubious manager of the camp as he rashly attempts to intrude and veto the proceedings. Unfortunately the forces of impulse are too strong and catastrophe becomes the only subject on any of the characters postcards.

The play was originally written for television and was somewhat dated in its subject matter. If I had to describe this play in a mini two worded synopsis (News of the World stylee) I'd have to say it was camp farce