The Erpingham Camp

Joe Orton’s inventive re-imagining of Euripides’ The Bacchae, relocated to a 1960s holiday camp.

For the second of his commissions for TV, Orton was tasked with writing a play about pride for the series The Seven Deadly Sins. His response was this highly inventive contemporary re-imagining of Euripides’ The Bacchae – here translated to a 1960s holiday camp where guests stage a revolt against the camp’s monstrously pompous manager. Orton constructs a riotously funny form of dark farce.

Capably directed by TV veteran James Ormerod, the play is also notable for being the earliest surviving credit of Alan Clarke’s; the great director worked on it as Assistant Floor Manager.