Review: Hi-de-Homo! C (venue 34)

By KELLY APTER
Published on 15/08/2012 18:53

Leave your subtlety detector at the door, you won’t be needing it. For the fifth year running, London Gay Men’s Chorus Ensemble has packed up its suitcase of show tunes, bad wigs and smutty innuendo, and headed north to the Fringe.

Star rating: * * *

As always, they’re welcomed with open arms from an appreciative crowd. The acting quality may be patchy, the staging a little chaotic, and the script lacks the killer lines of last year’s Little Shop of Homos, but Hi-de-Homo! is nevertheless an hour of pure joy.

This year, when they say “camp”, they mean it. Inspired by the 1980s TV sit-com of a similar name, the show is set at Butland’s holiday camp, just outside Paisley. Each member of the ensemble has a role to play, with the words “Camp Hairdresser”, “Camp Beauty Therapist” and “Camp Masseuse” emblazoned across their backs.

In homage to Su Pollard, there’s even a “Camp Cleaner”, who longs to be a Pink Coat. With songs from Fame, Frank Sinatra and The Smiths, there’s plenty of variety here. And when they sing en masse, you know that, joking apart, this is a choir that works hard for its harmonies.

Until 18 August. Today 7:35pm.