At a time where music festivals are struggling or collapsing across the country, Laughter Through The Tears Productions’ new South Australian coming-of-age play 'Hits', as part of Adelaide Festival Centre’s InSPACE programme, time warps back to the days when one festival ruled them all: Big Day Out.
If you gathered a crowd of millennials in a room, maybe at a 30th anniversary tour of a 1990s Triple J favourite, and asked them what their first music festival was, the odds-on favourite would be the touring behemoth that was Big Day Out. Alternative music royalty graced those stages: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Chili Peppers, White Stripes, Rage Against the Machine. Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Iggy Pop; the list goes on forever. 'Hits' writer/director/co-producer Rebecca Meston reminisces on those 'golden' days in her new theatrical work, while also applying a post-#metoo lens to the masculinity and misogyny of the music industry.
While notionally set in Adelaide in the early 1990s, 'Hits' is a timeless and placeless tale: Rhiannon’s (Ren Williams) parents, played by Eddie Morrison and Emma Beech, are breaking up; the kids at school are picking on her; she searches for solace, and finds it in the counter-culture at Riot Girl Suzie’s (Annabel Matheson) indie record store. There’s youthful rebellion, growing pains, and ultimately a hard-fought transition to adulthood. An unsanctioned trip to Big Day Out to see Suzie’s band, The Razor Lizards play, is the catalyst for it all (there’s even a live Razor Lizards performance).
While 'Hits' is relatable to all generations, millennials will get a much bigger kick out of it. There’s call-backs to Sizzler restaurants and Streets Viennetta desserts, slang phrases like 'blows' and 'munted', and of course, the tunes, which are seamlessly stitched together by Jason Sweeney’s sound design. Armchair musicologists will also get a kick out of Suzie’s music snobbery; she’s like a female version of 'High Fidelity'’s John Cusack and Jack Black. . . Or Zoe Kravitz in the short-lived TV remake of that film.
Beech, Morrison, and Matheson, aided by quick changes into Ali Jones’ costumes, play a flurry of school-yard and music industry characters; particularly Morrison, who clowns about as record store customers, a stoner guitarist, a predatory rock band manager, a muso dad, and easy-listening radio DJ Barry, whose outdated views are hard listening. DJ Barry is a constant presence in Rhiannon’s household; her mum Linda has the station constantly blaring. Such is the intrusion into daily life that Morrison’s Barry is physically present on stage, and he even participates in some scenes, despite not really being there. This is mostly effectively done, but can be confusing at times, particularly towards the show’s climax.
Directed by Meston, who has a background in clowning, the four-strong cast are hilarious with their physicality. Morrison, who is deeply enmeshed in the local music scene, revels in adopting the characters that he’s seen at gigs and record shops. Matheson and Beech are fantastic high school mean girls, while Beech is fantastic as the self-absorbed and newly single mother. Williams, though, is a star. She owns the stage from the outset. Some of her high-school mannerisms, like the customary teenage bad posture and backpack discomfort are gold. The cast are joined by a 12-strong 'moshpit chorus' who group at the front of the stage to recreate the vibes of the Big Day Out.
'Hits' is a timely yet nostalgic new work led by a rock star performance by Ren Williams.
