Bringing the 1980s cult classic, ‘The Breakfast Club’ to the stage, the Brisbane Arts Theatre’s adaptation of the teen hit is raw and engaging, adding a touch of its own magic to the iconic story.
Filling the shoes of Hollywood heavyweights Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson would be a tough feat for any actor, but the stars of Brisbane Arts Theatre production pull it off convincingly, adding their own unique and individual interpretation to the roles.
In the theatre version of John Hughes’ 1985 original film, director Susan O’Toole was determined that her actors would not see the film prior to the show, “banning” them to watch it during the rehearsal process to ensure that the actors brought their own different nuances to the highly-popular characters. 'The Breakfast Club' is a powerful and universally-understood story, playing out a day in the life of five high school students in detention. The students are typecast as the Brain (Brian), the Beauty (Claire), the Jock (Andrew), the Rebel (Bender) and the Recluse (Alison), all of whom are seemingly easy to read but later reveal have equally complex lives. From the outset the characters appear to be vastly different, but as the hours go by and they become united in defence against their Hitler-like teacher, Richard 'Dick' Vernon, each one opens up a little more about themselves and soon come to realise that despite their differences, are all really quite similar. Brisbane Arts Theatre’s 'The Breakfast Club' plays out in just under two hours and takes the audience on a journey back to those awkward teenage days where everything feels wrong and finding yourself is a daily learning experience. Everyone can relate to the feeling of wanting to fit in and this story brings back those raw emotions and proves why it remains a cult-hit decades after it was first released on film.
'The Breakfast Club' plays at The Brisbane Arts Theatre until August 2.
