Simon Ward reviews BuzzFest at the Wanstead Curtain Theatre

As chestnuts are falling from the trees and an autumnal chill is in the air, writer-director Marissa Landy’s ode to the summer musical festival season lands in a sweetly nostalgic moment. Much like the reluctant revellers at the end of her imaginary BuzzFest, real ‘back to school’ life is starting to intrude for the audience as well. So it is an auspicious time for a dark comedy which celebrates the good but does not shy away from the challenges of a hedonistic summer weekend with friends, lovers and booming music.

The set consists of a row of three tents, amateurishly assembled, some ramshackle camping chairs and many, many cans of beer. The five-strong friendship group in their mid- to late-twenties consist of Jordan (Tom Feasby), Daisy (Georgia Dye), her boyfriend Jason (Tafadzwa Phillip Madubeko), and Marvin (Alistair Rowley) with his fiancée Lisa (Marnie Yule). They are soon joined by an old schoolfriend of Jordan’s, Jo (CJ), who also happens to be at the festival. This allows us to be introduced and it becomes clear that this weekend is a blessed relief for them – most of their everyday lives are tedious and directionless, but at BuzzFest, all of that can be forgotten.

A promising setup then, with the added challenge of rendering the atmosphere of a festival in a church hall in East London. Landy’s solution to the latter is to use video footage – this is fun at first, as the cast disappear from the stage and reappear on screen, but, as this technique is also used to show overly long scenes inside one of the tents, it becomes wearisome by the end.

Marvin seems to be the group leader – he is the most dedicated to the festival vibe and effectively bullies the others into acquiesence. The least keen is Daisy – she and Jason have been together for a year so this is her first experience of this group in a festival setting and she finds it awkward and embarrassing. For his part, Jason is so relaxed and happy that he can’t understand why she wouldn’t be. The strains on their relationship are really at the heart of the play. Meanwhile Jordan, Lisa and Marvin go all out for a good time, while a bemused Jo looks on from the sidelines.

Festivals offer any number of possible comedic avenues – the weather, the noise, the food, the expense, the toilets – but none of these are explored. There is heavy drinking – Marvin is rarely seen without a can or a shot and there is a weird ritual involving toothbrushing with beer – but no drug-taking at all. Even Jo’s offer of a bit of cannabis is rebuffed. The hangovers, if they come, seem mild and to elide into normal early morning grogginess. Jordan’s boasts about not needing suncream are not followed up by sheepish application of aftersun lotion. In short, the evocation of the realities of festival life does not feel grubby or painful enough.

It actually looks like great fun – we get to see what is obviously real footage of the bands Two Year Break and Woof – and there are fairground rides and chips. Which makes the travails of Jason and Daisy seem all the more baffling. In truth, we never see much evidence that they get along together in the first place, but their falling out over Daisy’s disengagement seems flimsy. If there were already simmering tensions, we don’t see any evidence of them either.

Landy’s intention is to warn, in a light-hearted way, about some of the dangers lurking underneath the shiny surface of festival-going. Indeed, she wants to challenge the very idea that a festival where anything goes for three days is a helpful way to cope with an otherwise miserable existence. This is a valid objective, and the partnerships with charities Samaritans, The Loop and The Flaps Projects are admirable. Unfortunately, for me the play was not as effective a vehicle for that message as it could have been.

BuzzFest is running at the Wanstead Curtain, Hermon Hill, London E11 2AR until Sunday 21st September