By Luke Voogt
Teenage suicide, homophobia and gun violence are just some of the hard-hitting themes of Heathers The Musical which have resonated with the play’s young cast.
“We’ve come to pay homage to the writing because we’ve all felt connected in one way or another,” said cast member Shani Clarke.
The Grovedale actress plays 17-year-old protagonist Veronica Sawyer in the confronting dark comedy, who struggles to be “cool but kind”.
It’s a struggle the 22-year-old remembers from her own high school days.
“The cool group wanted to feel better by putting other people down. Luckily I fell into a good group of friends, so I didn’t have to compromise any of those morals.”
The play’s 1980s portrayal of topics like mental health showed how far society had come, Shani said.
“This show presents these things in a shocking way, but the message is one of acceptance. We’re all damaged, we’re all freaks but that’s alright.”
Heathers is the first GSODA production for the Melbourne-born Shani, who has sung and danced since age four.
Her character Veronica falls in “what she thinks is love” with the sociopathic and tormented Jason Dean.
“When you’re 17 and you feel that emotion, that’s your whole life and your whole world,“ Shani said.
Belmont actor Conor Morel plays JD, a role he struggled with “early on”.
“The character does stuff that is not representative of sociopathic behaviour,” the 20-year-old said.
“They sort of just start knocking off the popular kids that have been giving them hell.”
The show is Conor’s first for GSODA and an eye-opening glimpse into the world 30 years ago.
“There were a lot of themes that had a pretty big impact on some of the cast,” he said.
Lovely Banks director Christian Cavallo said his own experiences of suicide, homophobia and bullying helped understand the show’s mixture of darkness and comedy.
The message in Heathers was of love and respect, he said.
“And that’s why I knew it would be a project that I’d be happy to take on.”
The 30-year-old found himself being a “mentor” as often as a director.
“I think there have been a few instances where cast members came to me after a discussion and said this has happened to me,” he said.
“They’ve kind of just gotten to the end of their teenage years and that’s been helpful in telling the story.”
A graphic designer by day, Christian began acting at 13 and worked at Universal Studios in Japan.
He tackles the issue of gun violence in the play with some very realistic props.
“It didn’t want that to get confused in the irreverence of the show,” he said.
Heathers The Musical runs at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre from 6 to 14 October.
