Summer camp is usually a space for kids to make friends and learn about their passions away from their parents and with a new sense of freedom — but things get muddier when the friend you’ve always felt connected to comes back to camp with a new set of interests.
In this year's Vancouver Fringe Festival, Camp Goneaway follows two pre-teen campers during their last summer at their beloved camp before it shuts down due to the area becoming too polluted.
Realizing this is their last summer together, Evie and Margot decide they’ll have to make this the best summer ever — but the duo's ideas of fun appear to have diverged since last year.
Margot still listens to their favourite boy band and wants to do all the activities and games they’ve always enjoyed, but Evie has found a new passion for environmental justice and wants to spend their time cleaning up the camp and raising awareness around climate change.
“We really focused on the climate crisis … but we also wanted … to place this show through the eyes of … friendship and seeing how that kind of ties in together … [and] what happens when friendship changes internally,” said Sargil Tongol, the director of the musical and co-founder of Ragamuffin Productions.
The focus on sustainability was also true in the creation of the set. “We didn't try to buy many new items. We tried to reuse. We tried to source some from other companies, or tried to just see what we had in our bedroom.”
Tongol, who has previously directed pieces in Fringe, said one of the biggest challenges with this particular work was bringing the set to life as a sort of character, which was integral to highlighting the girls’ connection to the space and the memories attached to it — and the gravity of its decline. He describes the set as “feel[ing] a little eerie, but still welcoming.”
A dirty Camp Goneaway sign hangs haphazardly in the background, with little flags strung between poles and boxes full of the girls’ belongings. There’s a makeshift fire with a ukulele propped against it — which is used in a few catchy musical numbers — and tree stump cushions scattered across the floor. But plastic bottles and garbage also litter the set, never letting the audience forget why the place is closing in the first place. As the girls run and jump around, they usually seem oblivious to cans crunching beneath their feet, but there are moments where they do notice — subtle, yet heartbreaking reminders of their reality.
The two girls continue to be at odds, despite being haunted by the knowledge that once the summer is over, they won’t have an easy way to stay in touch, since they live on opposite sides of Canada and rely on letters as their main form of communication.
“Coming to this camp is their safe haven and their moment to catch up on a year's worth of things to do, and then realizing that this camp is going to be closing and … they're outgrowing the camp,” Tongol said. “What's next?”
Tongol, a UBC grad with a BA in theatre and education, said playwright Ashley Chodat’s background in education shaped the creation of the story.
“We want[ed] to honour students that we've taught [and] listened to. [It’s] that opportunity [to show] that we see you and we see your perspective to the best of our ability.”
Margot continues to try to persuade Evie to partake in their old favourite activities like archery, while Evie tries to show Margot why climate advocacy is so important to her. The two girls end up sneaking out to canoe on the lake, which has been closed for reasons unknown to them, only to lose Margot’s beloved tamagotchi to the sea monster they’ve come to believe is living in the lake.
After a grand battle with the monster, they get the toy back, only to realize the monster that was haunting them was actually an enormous pile of trash — the reason behind the lake closure.
Evie starts to spiral, saying that all her efforts to clean everything up were pointless. Margot assures her that none of this is her fault, and that she now understands how devastating climate change is, but wants both of them to enjoy their childhood while they still can. It’s a bittersweet moment of the girls finally being able to see each other's perspective and enjoy their last moments together.
“The show really made me reflect on just the friends that I don't talk to anymore, but I still appreciate that time and space that we had together,” said Tongol.
“It's a lot of joy, but a lot of sadness, because it's also all coming to an end, not just for the audience, but for the characters as well.”
Share this article
First online
Submit a complaint Report a correction
