Heathers the Musical Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 7th December 2021 Review
Heathers The Musical is at The Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 07 to Sat 11 Dec) and it is loosely based on the 1980s cult movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. This time around, the main roles of Veronica Sawyer and Jason J D Dean go to Rebecca Wickes and Simon Gordon with our three Heathers performed by Maddison Firth (Heather Chandler), Merryl Ansah (Heather Duke) and Lizzy Parker (Heather McNamara).
If you are old enough to remember the original black comedy film, then this show will be a nostalgic reunion with Westerberg High School and some of its students. Many people in the audience tonight were, however, far too young to have seen the original Heathers film when it came out, so what has made this show so popular with a new teenage audience? Perhaps the short lived 2018 television series has something to do with introducing Heathers to a new audience?
The road from film to stage/musical production is all too often one that is full of difficulties and all too often produces less than satisfactory results. Part of the problem is always the endless compromises that have to be made in the transition from one format to another, and often one casualty in this transition is the lack of depth in characters due to the very limited amount of time available to explore and develop them properly, and what you are left with is often a superficial skimming across the surface of emotional depth and human complexity. Heathers does to some extent suffer from this latter problem, but somehow it gets away with it for a few reasons. Two of these reasons tonight are Rebecca Wickes and Simon Gordon who not only make a very dark duo casting a long dark shadow of a twisted teenage love affair, but importantly for a musical they have some very good songs to work with both individually and as a duo. In all fairness, we do get to explore both these characters in some depth, but the time taken to do this does mean that other characters suffer and become a little one dimensional.
To be instantly dislikeable is something no one ever wants to be in real life but as a role in film or on stage it can offer a performer great possibilities and Maddison Firth achieves this with Heather Chandler from the moment she steps on stage and is obviously having much fun with this part, as are Lizzy Parker and Merryl Ansah in their respective roles as the other two Heathers.
Underneath all of the songs and the dance routines which are performed to the backdrop of an economical but effective stage set, there are some very serious issues in this story line and although this production is set in the time frame of the original film, the core issues of school bullying and teenage suicides are just as relevant now in the 2020s, and sadly perhaps even more of an issue than ever before. Bullying can not only be physical, but all too often psychological and both can be remorseless attacks upon the chosen victims. Physical violence often leaves obvious damage, but psychological violence can slowly completely destroy a victim from the inside out, leaving no obvious traces for anyone to see on the outside, and because it is often hidden by the victims, this can all too often go undetected whilst leaving sometimes a lifetime’s damage to the victims. Heathers The Musical is not just an evening out, but it has an important role to play in highlighting that bullying and deep emotional problems need to be talked about and brought out of the darkness and into the light. It would be nice to see this production partner with a major youth charity that has the experience and resources needed in these areas to potentially reach out to any young person in the audience who might just need that opportunity to speak to someone in confidence.
Review by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH
If you are old enough to remember the original black comedy film, then this show will be a nostalgic reunion with Westerberg High School and some of its students. Many people in the audience tonight were, however, far too young to have seen the original Heathers film when it came out, so what has made this show so popular with a new teenage audience? Perhaps the short lived 2018 television series has something to do with introducing Heathers to a new audience?
The road from film to stage/musical production is all too often one that is full of difficulties and all too often produces less than satisfactory results. Part of the problem is always the endless compromises that have to be made in the transition from one format to another, and often one casualty in this transition is the lack of depth in characters due to the very limited amount of time available to explore and develop them properly, and what you are left with is often a superficial skimming across the surface of emotional depth and human complexity. Heathers does to some extent suffer from this latter problem, but somehow it gets away with it for a few reasons. Two of these reasons tonight are Rebecca Wickes and Simon Gordon who not only make a very dark duo casting a long dark shadow of a twisted teenage love affair, but importantly for a musical they have some very good songs to work with both individually and as a duo. In all fairness, we do get to explore both these characters in some depth, but the time taken to do this does mean that other characters suffer and become a little one dimensional.
To be instantly dislikeable is something no one ever wants to be in real life but as a role in film or on stage it can offer a performer great possibilities and Maddison Firth achieves this with Heather Chandler from the moment she steps on stage and is obviously having much fun with this part, as are Lizzy Parker and Merryl Ansah in their respective roles as the other two Heathers.
Underneath all of the songs and the dance routines which are performed to the backdrop of an economical but effective stage set, there are some very serious issues in this story line and although this production is set in the time frame of the original film, the core issues of school bullying and teenage suicides are just as relevant now in the 2020s, and sadly perhaps even more of an issue than ever before. Bullying can not only be physical, but all too often psychological and both can be remorseless attacks upon the chosen victims. Physical violence often leaves obvious damage, but psychological violence can slowly completely destroy a victim from the inside out, leaving no obvious traces for anyone to see on the outside, and because it is often hidden by the victims, this can all too often go undetected whilst leaving sometimes a lifetime’s damage to the victims. Heathers The Musical is not just an evening out, but it has an important role to play in highlighting that bullying and deep emotional problems need to be talked about and brought out of the darkness and into the light. It would be nice to see this production partner with a major youth charity that has the experience and resources needed in these areas to potentially reach out to any young person in the audience who might just need that opportunity to speak to someone in confidence.
Review by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH
