Fangirls
Music, book, lyricist: Yve Blake
Director: Paige Rattray
Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir
October 16 – November 10, 2019
Yve Blakes’s Fangirls celebrates the majority of teenage worshippers for whom their idols provide individual comfort in a “cruel and messy world” and through whom they connect with a community who share their personal interests. While funny, fast-paced and extravagantly joyful, this exuberant and inventive musical also acknowledges the painful aspects of teenage becoming and their exploitation by a cynical music industry.
Its story centres on Eddie (a remarkable performance by Yve Blake), an imaginative 14 year old, who is struggling to come to terms with being a scholarship girl in a private school and the pressure of a single mother (Sharon Millerchip) anxious for her daughter to make the most of this opportunity. Eddie’s current obsession with Harry-of-the-perfect-hair from the boy band, True Connection, creates tension between them, and Eddie’s rudeness to her mother, a sympathetic figure in blue scrubs and a dowdy cardigan, is painful to hear.
Eddie’s best but not so reliable friends, the sensitive but uncourageous Brianna (Kimberly Hogdson) and robust Jules (Chika Ikogwe), while sharing her adulation of Harry – whose image proliferates on pillow slips, bean bag, bedspread and video screen – are not so emotionally invested. While Jules ridicules Eddie’s conviction that Harry feels “trapped” in his life, Eddie’s fictional scenarios in which she and Harry (Aydan) run away together and which she publishes online are well received by the internet fan community. Gay boy, Saltypringl (James Majoos), is especially supportive and remains a close but very far-away friend to Eddie.
Eddie’s belief that only she truly understands Harry, while logically silly, is nevertheless understandable. The band’s name, True Connection, suggests that they are skillfully marketed with the intention of making teenage girls or gay boys all over the world feel a personal connection to one or other of the boys in the band.
Nevertheless, having a “crush”, defined by the Urban dictionary as “a person who gives you butterflies (Eddie does clutch her stomach) … A person you can’t describe in a word, but multiple words (so true of the girls whose feelings need to be expressed through song, physical action, fan-fic and screen projection). A person you can’t get off your mind … (and are reminded of constantly by merchandise and internet bulletins”, is a real and transformative experience.
Such intense devotion can be unifying but it is also divisive as Eddie’s insistence that she alone understands Harry alienates her from her school friends with a heart breaking consequence. The cheerfully mean-girl Jules is keen to point out that Eddie will never have the opportunity to meet Harry but when the generous True Connection announce that they will venture to the Antipodes to gratify their Australian fans, suddenly it seems that the real life Harry may be reachable after all. The obstacles to the coveted union seem almost insurmountable … but do not underestimate the strength of teenage passion to achieve the impossible dream.
Visually, Fangirls is totally absorbing (design, David Fleischer, Justin Harrison). The sparkling backdrop with which the play opens and which captures the tone of the whole, gives way to numerous video-screen backdrops. One moment a huge image of Harry with outstretched arms dominates the three screens, at another an online chat conference between strangers fills the space, zombies appear only to be shot down by the boys of the band in a very entertaining concert medley, and sometimes just the sheer explosion of colour and sound is almost overwhelming.
This visual wittiness is well matched by the choreography (Leonard Mickelo) and costumes (Fleischer). In particular, a smartly performed number with the girls in iconic silver outfits and boots stands out as well Eddie’s little solos. Dancing to the songs she loves in privacy of her room, and dressed in a relatably daggy school uniform, she performs appropriate moves with just the right degree of awkwardness. Also eye-catching is the bizarre Tinker-bell version of a rainbow coloured ribbon-wielding gymnast (Ayesha Madon) who flits around the stage in hopeful ecstasy.
The cast is brilliant. Blake captures the impetuous, impatient, angsty teenager beautifully as does Millerchip her loving, uncomprehending mother. Aydan hits the right note of self-aware mockery as Harry, Ikogwe and Madon are both refreshing and audacious presences, and Majoos brought a charming warmth and delicacy to his role. The speed with which the girls handle their multiple roles is dazzling.
Altogether an impressive and celebratory production directed with affection and relish by Paige Rattray with songs, that are destined to become teenage anthems.
_______________
theatre@ssh.com.au
