In a time where young people are often ignored and silenced, shows like Camp Phoenix are vital
In their first UK tour since the pandemic, Zest Theatre’s Camp Phoenix made its way to The Albany this March. An action-packed show for the whole family, Camp Phoenix takes its audience along for a week-long camp designed to help seventeen-year-olds prepare for impending adulthood. Performed in collaboration with actual high school teens, catchy songs and a meaningful narrative make this show a delight to watch.
Zest Theatre, the organization behind the show, are passionate about creating work that amplifies the voices of young people. Camp Phoenix was created though the company’s research wherein they conducted thirty workshops in Lincoln, Stockton-on-Tees, Kent, Barnsley, and Lewisham. In these workshops, nine-year-olds were asked about their fears surrounding growing up and approaching Secondary School. In turn, young people aged sixteen and over responded to these concerns with advice based on their own experiences. Zest Theatre collected this research and created Camp Phoenix as a means to spread the wisdom to young people all over the U.K. Over six hundred and fifty young people were involved in the research of this production, and it shows: the narrative felt honest and precise, and the wisdom conveyed through the experiences depicted felt grounded and genuine. At no point did Camp Phoenix seem to over-explain or belittle its audience through convoluted and overbearing performances, as is characteristic of shows designed for children, nor did it attempt to modernise a morality play. The presence of high school students as the performers gave the performances a necessary legitimacy and added to the overall honesty of the piece.
Camp Phoenix features two professional actors, Duane Gooden (‘Les’) and David Carpenter (‘Zia’), who help drive the narrative and support the young performers. Each venue Camp Phoenix plays in features young performers from different high schools to fill in the remainder of the roles. Watching high school actors bravely discuss issues that pertain directly to their life experience through performance was a moving experience. In Camp Phoenix, Zia arrives late to the introduction and, in a state of panic, bumps into Les, the camp caretaker, upon his arrival. Les helps Zia take a few breaths to calm down and shows him the path to meet up with the rest of his group at the camp. When Zia arrives, he is nervous and frightened, and feels isolated from the group. However, as time goes on, he comes to feel comfortable and close to this cohort. At this camp, each group must engage in various challenges to achieve ribbons that they can take home with them at the end of the week. Through these challenges, Zia’s group bonds, sharing their fears for the future and giving each other sound advice.
Camp Phoenix is a genuine pleasure to watch; witnessing the sage insight of young people is a truly inspiring experience. In a time where young people are often ignored and silenced, shows like Camp Phoenix are vital. The future is that of the youth, and they deserve to have their say in it, especially considering they seem to know a great deal more about humanity than they are given credit for.