Camp Siegfried, Old Vic Theatre review ★★★★★

In the 1930s, Long Island hosted summer camp for American youths of German descent, called Camp Siegfried. Fascist ideologies were taught alongside a more regular programme of hiking and games, and the teens who attended were encouraged to ‘socialise’, or rather go into the woods, have sex and procreate with one another, in order to continue the lineage of thoroughbred Germans living in North America.

This camp is the setting of American playwright Bess Wohl’s two-hander Camp Siegfried, a dark and unsettling coming-of-age story, showing at the Old Vic Theatre in the clever hands of director Katy Rudd (The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Groundhog Day).

While a little flat in places, as if holding back from delving into the true toxicity of life within the camp, the production is carried by exceptional performances from Olivier award-winning Patsy Ferran (Summer and Smoke, Three Sisters) and Luke Thallon (Present Laughter, After Life),

Luke Thallon (Him) and Patsy Ferran (Her) in Camp Siegfried at The Old Vic. Photo: Manuel Harlan

The year is 1938 and while the Second World War looms in the distance, at Camp Siegfried, two teens referred to only as Him and Her, are imagining different futures for themselves as they chop wood, drink beer and flirt by the campfire. Him is a seasoned camp-goer and, knowing that impregnating a fellow camper is the ultimate sign of a successful summer season, is working on making the more seemingly naive Her fall in love with him. (The adults, incidentally, are turning a blind eye, allowing the teens to frolic in the woods while they drink beer and, in some cases, also hook up with one another.)

While the narrative is a little plodding in places, what pulls this production through is the talent of its leads. Her is initially awkward and bashful around Him, which isn’t helped by Him continually dismissing Her as a dummy. But, they’re teens, and watching them tread the path from acquaintances to lovers is believable.

Luke Thallon (Him) and Patsy Ferran (Her) in Camp Siegfried at The Old Vic. Photo: Manuel Harlan

Both Ferran and Thallon are north of 25 but slip into their 16- and 17-year-old characters with convincing ease. Ferran, who with each new role in a major play continues to cement herself as one of the most interesting and versatile performers on the London stage, delivers much of the show’s humour and undergoes the bigger journey of the two, evolving from gawky teen to playful lover and, later, a terrifying propaganda spewer. Thallon brings an excitable boisterousness to the strapping and competitive Him. He’s on a mission to fulfil the camp’s ghastly aims for its subjects and his blinkered determination makes for appropriately uncomfortable viewing.

The staging is unusually sparse for a Rudd production. Tal Rosner’s black-and-white video projections offer the odd glimpse of the camp’s crowds rallying for speeches, while in the latter scenes, Rob Casey’s lighting projects the afterglow of fireworks and wisps of smoke on the back wall to atmospheric effect. But the stage is largely a dark, blank canvas, focusing our attention instead on the storytelling, with the dialogue between Him and Her painting us a second-hand, and at times scant, picture of life at the camp.

Luke Thallon (Him) and Patsy Ferran (Her) in Camp Siegfried at The Old Vic. Photo: Manuel Harlan

Camp Siegfried tells an interesting story about a little-known faction of Nazis-in-training. The brainwashing nature of the camp is fully realised when Her delivers a speech to the cohort – chillingly reminiscent of Trump politics – on building walls, shutting out foreigners and making America great again.

However, the most prescient moment of the play comes in reported speech, when Her describers a conversation she had with a doctor (who unbeknown to her is Jewish), who stresses the power of the imagination to convince us we are something we perhaps aren't. At that moment, Him is already convinced he is a killer, while Her is convinced she’s pregnant.

While Camp Siegfried struggles to capture our emotions or drum up enough suspense to invest us in its drama, it’s a well-rounded coming of age story carried by two noteworthy performances.