How very! Heathers The Musical is a murderously catchy, feel-good show that shamelessly and surreally shines a light on dark themes, writes Georgina Butler.
Based on a 1988 film that blew up the high-school genre and became a cult classic, this high-octane rock musical gently applies a chainsaw to the conventions of a high-school tale. By making merry with taboo subjects in outlandish style, this riotously entertaining production is more than a musical. It is a movement to stamp out bullying and promote candid conversations about mental health.
Attempting to explain the sensational storyline is like trying to describe a crazy dream.
The “lipstick gestapo” rules the school. There are forgeries, fights, slushies, games of croquet, loaded weapons. Cow manure gets everywhere. Everyone dies and is resurrected.
The love story is between an unassuming nobody who becomes a disapproving somebody (before eventually espousing the value of everybody) and a mysterious newcomer whose habit of freezing his brain to block out the pain foreshadows an unhinged plan to put a bomb under the school’s social hierarchy.
A gay subplot brings disco dancing to a funeral. An unsuspecting dude in the stalls finds himself subjected to some audacious audience participation/victimisation. Students literally get away with murder, but they do learn from the drama and deaths. They accept that we are all damaged, frightened freaks. And, although life is beautiful, there is no such thing as a happy ending anyway – right? – so what’s a few bodies six feet under between friends?
Yes, it’s bonkers. Yes, it’s brilliant.
Set in 1989, the scenario begins with a “dear diary” welcome from senior-year student Veronica Sawyer. It’s the first day of term and she is holding her breath and counting the days until graduation because life is tough for a nobody at Westerberg High. When a chance encounter with “the Heathers” – a trio of mean girls who float and strut through the corridors, enjoying every second of their reign of terror – catapults Veronica to "somebody" status, she thinks life will get easier.
It does, sort of. Until she crushes on blow-in bad boy JD and rejects the Heathers’ evil regime, that is.
Then, her new boyfriend becomes fixated on picking off everyone who has upset her by accidentally on purpose orchestrating deaths and making them look like suicides. The notion of surviving high school just took on a whole new meaning!
Theatre is entertainment, escapism, distraction. Yet it is also a platform for raising awareness. Heathers The Musical unapologetically (hip) thrusts issues under the spotlight to demand collective acknowledgement, sardonically squaring up to the unspeakable. There are no struggles in silence here – the script is packed full of quotable one-liners, acerbic asides, visceral reactions and revealing moments of vulnerability – and the ludicrous onstage world is all the better for it.
The strong language and mature themes certainly justify this show’s trigger warning and age recommendation (theatregoers should be at least 14 years old, but all teenagers are different so err on the side of caution). Bullying, bulimia, date rape, murder, suicide…
These are personal, private, provocative issues and the casual presentation sometimes teeters towards feeling uncomfortably removed from the reality of them. Nonetheless, the comedic, camp, cartoonish way Westerberg High School is depicted ensures that audience members laugh along with every savage twist and turn of the diabolically dark and timeless narrative.
All the characters are extreme caricatures. They are loud and proud stereotypes. They are simultaneously scared of being singled out and narked at the need to water down who they really are.
Veronica Sawyer (Jenna Innes) and JD (Keelan McAuley) are a captivating central pairing who vibrantly, at times violently, seduce each other (and the audience) with their oddball blend of romance and danger.
As they layer sweet harmonies and wholeheartedly embrace the morbid comedy, Innes and McAuley initially channel an Aladdin-and-Jasmin vibe (JD introduces Veronica to a whole new world by inviting her to pray at the altar of slush; he promises her that a hit of slushie will numb everything). This develops to Tony-and-Maria-esque passion. Then culminates in a Phantom-and-Christine level of obsessive infatuation.
The titular Heathers – “mythic b*tch” Heather Chandler (Esme Bowdler), hanger-on-Heather Heather Duke (Sedona Sky) and all-at-sea head cheerleader Heather McNamara (Daisy Twells) – are ridiculously ruthless bullies who twirl in their respective red, green and yellow outfits. Kurt Kelly (Iván Fernández González) and Ram Sweeney (Jason Battersby) are two brainless jocks whose double act demands a double take – is now a good time to mention that they are tricked into performing a striptease in a cemetery? Butt-of-every-joke Martha Dunnstock (Amy Miles) is a likeable source of humour and heartbreak.
High school doesn’t last forever, but David Shield’s set design, strikingly illuminated by Ben Cracknell's lighting, has Westerberg High as a constant backdrop. This effectively reinforces how much influence school relationships have over all the characters. Other set pieces are wheeled out to create students’ homes, a convenience store and the cemetery.
A live band provides spectacular accompaniment for fun, high-energy musical numbers and creepy but compelling ballads. A couple of the ensemble songs seem to get a bit shouty now and then, with lyrics lost in the cacophony, but otherwise everything is pitch perfect. All the songs progress the narrative and gradually contextualise why characters are the way they are. Scenes are episodic (punctuated by sudden blackouts and silence), which keeps things pacy, punchy, powering on.
The Heathers lay down the law in a stylised and synchronised fashion for girl-group-inspired ‘Candy Store’. Fabulous freeze-frame fisticuffs take centre stage in ‘Fight For Me’. Veronica strides with purpose while belting out the big notes in ‘Dead Girl Walking’ and ‘I Say No’. Hysteria overwhelms the stage during ‘The Me Inside of Me’. A new queen is crowned in ‘Never Shut Up Again’. Events take an unexpected turn with ‘My Dead Gay Son’.
Essentially, Gary Lloyd’s energetic choreography capitalises on being silly and slick in equal measure. Every flounce, flip, fall and facial expression is executed with attitude and attention to detail. The intention is clearly to maximise the laughs and maintain the melodrama. It works!
Heathers The Musical leaves you thoroughly entertained and feeling like you have watched something wildly inappropriate yet wonderfully insightful.
Running time: Approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including an interval.
Age guidance: 14+
This production contains haze, loud noises (including gunshots), flashing lights and strobe, strong language and mature themes (including murder, suicide, sexual violence and reference to eating disorders).
Heathers The Musical continues at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 14 September.
Georgina Butler is an editor, a dance writer and a ballet teacher. Visit https://georginabutler.co.uk and follow her on Twitter @GeorginaLButler and Instagram @glbdancewriter
