Theatre Camp is a new mockumentary film that is a love letter to all of us who instead of hanging around in parks or at sleepovers instead spent time at drama club, choir rehearsal and dance classes.

The movie follows a theatre camp called AdirondACTS but as founder Joan falls into a coma it is left to her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) who is more at home filming for his YouTube channel talking about Crypto than he is with the arts. Whilst Troy is battling to keep the camp running, long running teaching staff Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) put on their original musical Joan, but with Rebecca-Diane becoming more and more absent will the show even be ready in time?

Theatre Camp is a show that really knows its intended audience and for that reason many of the jokes are laugh out loud funny as they ring true with the audience or at least someone they know. All of the jokes are told with kindness towards its stagey audience and it celebrates being different rather than conforming and for this reason we are won over very quickly.

The cast themselves are great in their roles, from the younger cast members such as Bailee Bonick who plays Mackenzie Thomas, Luke Islam as Christopher who slays the ending to Defying Gravity and Kyndra Sanchez as the Camps leading lady they all threaten to steal the scene with their acting, singing or comedic abilities. The adult cast are just as talented with the teachers throwing themselves into their larger than life, zany roles. Molly Gordon is a brilliantly quirky music teacher with a penchant for the supernatural and Ben Platt with his overly sincere acting teaching methods alongside their co-dependant friendship however stealing my heart was Noah Galvin as the overlooked and overworked stage manager Glenn Winthrop.

For those that grew up learning ‘zip zap boing,’ and have said the phrase ‘I can’t I have rehearsals,’ more times than they care to admit then this is the perfect movie for you, balancing the right amount of nostalgia with quirky humour it is a must see for all stagey kids, or stagey adults that were once stagey kids.

Theatre Camp is out in cinemas from August 25th.

If you like this review you might also like my review of Hamilton Movie, Bathtubs over Broadway and The Greatest Showman.