Theatre Trip: Heathers

HEATHERS

Theatre Royal Haymarket
Date: 25th September (Tuesday), 7:45pm
Seats: Stalls K 17-18
(with Jess N!)

Heathers is a cult show which I primarily know about because of it's star, Carrie Hope Fletcher, who I follow on Youtube. It recently had a sold out run at the Other Palace, with an online lottery you could enter once a week in order to win tickets for the following week, however throughout the 9 week run I didn't win once! So I was overjoyed to hear that before the first run had even closed there was a second run announced, this time for the Theatre Royal Haymarket. And the lottery was on TodayTix! So every day I entered the lottery, and it wasn't until Tuesday I found out I had won!

I quickly got onto my friends (Richard had a work thing on), cranked out as much work as I could, then headed into the city for a quick dinner with Jess before the show. The theatre is a lovely little one which really only hosts plays and smaller productions - I had been last year to see Venus in Fur, and Heathers has only 18 in it's cast and very minimal set. There isn't a bad seat in the house, and we got in Row K near the middle. Great seats!

The plot of Heathers is the same as the cult film which it is an adaptation of (although I haven't seen the film yet). Veronica Sawyer wanted to be like one of the popular girls (the Heathers, so named because they are Heather, Heather and Heather!) and when she forges a note to get them out of trouble, they take her under their wing and she becomes popular. Then she falls for the brooding new boy JD at school, and between the Heathers causing destruction and JD being a psychopath, it all escalates quickly in a spate of 'suicides'. I don't want to give too much away to those who might not have seen it, because it is a phenomenal plot which is much more powerful if you don't see it coming.

The music is quite typical contemporary pop, with some gorgeous harmonies and the lyrics are so real but poetic. The whole show is definitely a dark comedy - we laughed a lot - but the subject matter is not for joking, really. My favourite songs are (I think) Never Shut Up Again, Lifeboat, and Seventeen. Seventeen is perhaps the most beautiful haunting song in the show, and the album has been on repeat for the last few days!

With a small cast, they really each get a chance to shine. All the adult roles are multiplied (with each actor playing 2 or 3), but the teenagers are all in the show a lot and only have one role each. Ram Sweeney (Dominic Andersen) and Kurt Kelly (Christopher Chung) made a hilarious if cringy pair as the jocks on the football team, Martha Dunnstock (Jenny O'Leary) was poignant as the beaten down and bullied student, and Shine a Light was a brilliant number thanks to the hilarious Ms Fleming (Rebecca Lock) and her adlibbing about Steve (an audience member who she claims she has been having an affair with) in every show!

The Heathers were all so perfect. Heather McNamara (Sophie Isaacs, in yellow) is the perfect perky but not-so-smart head cheerleader who finds her way to the right thing in the end and has the best jokes of the Heathers (she also gets to sing Lifeboat, which I adore). Heather Duke (T'Shan Williams, in green - mostly) is downtrodden and mostly ignored, until she gets her moment (Never Shut Up Again, a number after my own heart) and then she blew me away! And then there is Heather Chandler (Jodie Steele), the 'mythic bitch'. She has an incredible role which is bigger than I expected and is truly one of the original mean girls. Also her voice was absolutely insane. She is an absolute powerhouse!!!

The leading man in the show is Jason Dean, known as JD. He is totally a psychopath, but also desperately trying to be 'normal', in the same way other teenagers do. He just goes about it the total wrong way. Jamie Muscato plays JD brilliantly, as he manages to be sexy and yet also totally creepy. His voice was perfect in his duets with Veronica and had a longing quality which was so poignant.

And then there was Veronica Sawyer, as played by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Don't get me wrong, I love Carrie already but she absolutely blew me away. I last saw her live in the Addams Family, but Heathers is a whole other level when you play Veronica. She is only off stage for one scene and one song - the rest of the time she is on stage, acting, singing her heart out - and it's a massive sing! Carrie had an incredible energy, her voice is gorgeous and she was emotional and hysterical and flawless. My favourite numbers of hers are definitely Seventeen (duet with JD) which has the most haunting harmonies, and Dead Girl Walking. I draw inspiration from Carrie for being a positive role model, especially in Dead Girl Walking, in which she creeps into JDs bedroom and beds him. She is full of agency and self-awareness, and she rips her shirt off in the number in a way which celebrates all teenage girls, but especially those who (like Carrie) are not a tiny size. She is chubby and proud and gorgeous.

The end of the show had me in tears of being overwhelmed about how beautiful the show was and the hopeful ending which it still has despite everything that happens. I have never screamed so loud or danced as much at a curtain call, and I was the only person (at first) to join in the fist pumps at the end. And then, after a minute to calm down, Jess and I went to the front of the theatre where we met most of the cast. We got autographs, gushed at every single cast member, and promised we would do our best to be back to see it again. Carrie was even at stage door, and she is the loveliest - she even let us have pictures! The only major cast member we didn't get to meet was Jodie Steele, but that's fine.

Now, I need to win the lottery some more. My life needs more Heathers. How very.