Sunny Tribe District at PIP Theatre is a zany take on wellness culture that will have you grinning, giggling, and guffawing at the characters’ nutty antics the whole way through.
When Knick (Peter Hatton) goes in search of his missing brother, who founded the wellness camp Sunny Tribe District (or as the counsellors like to call it, STD for short…), he finds a whole lot more than he bargained for.
At STD, he finds Kurt (Peter Wood), who seems to be hiding something; Kris (Darcy Jones), who shares his well-meaning Book of Mormon-esque advice to repress your emotions; the alluring Kay (Isabella Berlese); and ukelele-brandishing Celly (Bec Day).
These goofy oddballs are on a mission to turn the “sadlings” who attend the camp into “gladlings”, and the comparatively normal Knick rolls with their absurdist approach and suggests some new, healthier ways of dealing with emotions.
The play is “camp” in every sense of the word – there were tents and foraging, but also dance breaks, pop ballad breakouts, and cute yellow neckties.
It’s raunchy too, full of innuendos (STD is just them getting STarteD!) both verbal and physical, and not exactly politically correct.
The performance from the actors is tight, moving from zero to one hundred and back as the counsellors slip in and out of their official “STD” personas, or add some pizzazz with a gesture or full-on choreo.
Playing with the fourth wall cleverly, the playwright Patrick Mu’a winks at tropes throughout, like when characters refer to Knick as only having been there for three scenes… hang on… or a breakout into a detective trope, Celly holding a kazoo like a cigar as she puts on a serious, questioning tone.
This dramatic deviousness is aided adeptly by the sound (Tommi Civili) and lighting design (Noah Milne), like when an ominous chord and red lighting appears at the mention of the certification board who are threatening to shut down the camp, which the actors react to as if they weren’t in a camp in the middle of the wilderness, but rather a stage with just such lighting, to comic effect.
The intimacy of PIP Theatre, where the audience seating wraps around the sides of the stage and actors can easily make eye contact with any of the audience, adds to the effect of these moments.
Rare moments of real emotion, especially towards the end, underscore the takeaway of the play: a reminder to embrace people for all their weirdness and honour your own feelings.
When the world feels like it’s falling apart, laughter reminds us why we are here – connection with those around us.
Don’t miss this bizarre but lovable romp through camp with a hysterical family of camp counsellors – Sunny Tribe District runs until March 28.
Get your tickets at piptheatre.org/sunny-tribe-district.
