Carry on Camping at The Last Resort Holiday Park

Carry on Camping at The Last Resort Holiday Park was a wild ride of a show that attracted capacity audiences who were clearly having an absolute ball. Presented by Cheap and Dodgy Productions, Primadonna Productions and the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, this is the latest in an annual series of productions which are eagerly anticipated by the local community - not least because they star local Member of Parliament and Minister for the Arts the Honourable David Templeman.

While the show self-describes as "cheap and dodgy", the production values are decent, despite a very reasonable ticket price, and the talent is excellent - although some of the gags definitely fit into the “dodgy” category, and other jokes are older than the average age of the audience. This attracts are mature crowd, and while there are lots of fangirls for David Templeman, the previous object of their affection was probably Elvis or Col Joye.

This year's plot centres around the owners of the aptly named Last Resort Caravan Park, their employees and guests. Leading the cast were executive producer David Templeman as Lance Boil, local favourite (and director of the show) Carole Dhu as his wife Gwen and newcomer Samuel Templeman (David’s real -life son) as their son Norton. David and Carole were excellent as usual (in spite of David’s tendency to careen dangerously off script) but Samuel frequently stole scenes, with his wonderful charisma, impeccable timing and great facial expression. Steven Jones is great fun as Germanic handyman Vermin Stools, with Stephen Carter fabulously flamboyant as leotard clad entertainment director Lionel Star.

A supporting cast of near fifty performers play guests at the park, perform numerous skits and sing superbly, creating a show that is true variety and is strongly reminiscent of 1970s variety television (it’s a compliment I promise). The style is old fashioned, but it works - and it contains lots of fish twists. There were some poignant moments, including Kenn Ellis’ and Sian Wake’s beautiful In Memorium tribute to those who have left us in 2023, excellent musical performances such as the Sugar and Spice Medley (Sian Wake, Gemma Little, Bella Lambert and Caris Read) and ‘Day Trip to Bangor’ (Jacky Creelman, Ruth Creelman, Bella Lambert, Adam McWhinnie, Cathy Puzey and Michael Rogers), well-acted sketches and the beautifully bizarre Beach Ball Ballet. The finale, featuring the young people from Primadonna Productions with soloists Flynn Creelman and Marnie Kelly, was particularly lovely.

This is silly stuff with great heart, that is well performed and adored by the audience. A fabulous holiday treat that I hope will continue for many years.

Kimberley Shaw