Heathers: The Musical ****  – Cult show on the dark side

It tackles head on everything from bullying to suicide, from homophobia to insolation and inclusion - oh, you can also chuck in bulimia and even date rape – and yet, it is hugely entertaining, if that remotely makes any sense.

It also has a strangely timeless feel.

It’s set in Westerberg High in 1989, but it could easily be Rydell High in the 50s from Grease, or even Rosewood High in the Netflix hit Pretty Little Liars.

Based on the 1989 cult teen movie, which made stars of Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, it’s certainly high octane, funny, and deeply, deeply dark.

It also has a very clear demographic - it’s been a long time since I sat among quite such a young audience which roared its applause and rewarded it with a standing ovation.

Heathers tells the story of life in high school where being with the wrong crowd can be brutally painful, and the desire to fit in, if only to avoid being a victim, can be crippling.

The Heathers - all three of them - are cool and cruel in equal measure, and gloriously lit throughout.

Veronica (Rebecca Wickes) gains entry to their clique on the back of her ace forgery skills, but the price is ostracising her true friend, the unglamorous, bookish, serious Martha, and there are dark, life-changing repercussions when she gets in toe with loner JD (Simon Gordon) who is armed, dangerous and unpredictable.

The ties that bind are also those which kill, and everything builds to a second act which could easily come with half a dozen trigger warnings - put it this way, it starts with a double funeral and an opening song ‘My Dead Gay Son’ which is turned into something of a showstopper. You got to hand it to the show for its sheer confidence - that’s a pretty neat trick to pull off.

And Heathers does it time and again - taking the darkest subject matter, packing a punch, but still entertaining. The audience loved it, so clearly it new what to expect.

I have to say, coming at it with only the vaguest memory of the original movie was certainly interesting!

The best performance, without a doubt, from Wickes who takes over Winona Ryder’s screen role so well you forget the Hollywood A-lister ever donned those 80s shoulder pads.

Maddison Firth adds some waspish lines as the dead Heather - it’ll make sense when you see it - and Mhairi Angus makes an accomplished professional music debut as Martha Dunnstock, delivering a haunting ‘Kindergarten Boyfriend’ lament.

I’m pretty sure the core of the audience on press night wasn’t born when the original movie first screened, but its themes clearly resonate as strongly today, and its cult status seems assured for another 30 years.

If you like your musical theatre on the dark side, this is for you…

Heathers: The Musical is at the Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh until Saturday, December 11.

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