Fangirls – Lyric Hammersmith

Mary Malone, Jasmine Elcock and Miracle Chance in Fangirls at the Lyric Hammersmith, London. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Fangirls continues at the Lyric Hammersmith, London until 24 August 2024.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

There is something uniquely heartwarming, and uniquely terrifying, about the devoted fandom of teenagers. For the last 60 years this has been most visible by the screaming hordes around boy bands: from Beatlemania to the lamentations and helplines when Take That broke up, to the more recent online sensation of fans needing to discover the “truth” about “Larry”, their imagined impression of a supposed Louis Tomlinson/Harry Styles relationship within One Direction.

That powder keg of teenage emotion is so intense that it’s perfect for exploration in musical theatre form. And so it is with Fangirls, the Australian musical by Yve Blake that centres around 14-year-old Edna (Jasmine Elcock) and her friends, and their obsession with the band Heartbreak Nation – and in particular, its lead singer Harry (Thomas Grant).

Edna spends her evenings writing fan fiction where she imagines that Harry – who she has decided is depressed by the work schedule imposed upon him by record bosses – breaks free of the studio and goes on the run with her. Blake’s opening number, ‘Let Them’, constructs one of these stories in pop video form, as Edna and Harry flee by motorbike, before getting into a martial arts-inspired fight with the police. Paige Rattray’s direction skilfully switches between the fantasy world and reality, showing that Edna is living with a single mum (the peerless Debbie Kurup) who struggles to find quality time with her daughter in between shifts.

When rifts occur between Edna and her two best friends, gawky Brianna (Miracle Chance) and the stridently domineering Jules (Mary Malone), it is the online fans to whom Edna finds solace. Blake uses this to embody one of the main messages of her piece: while how young people, especially teenage girls, latch on to their subject matter may seem odd from the outside, it also offers a sense of loving community that many young people can’t find anywhere else.

This is backed up by the whip-smart dialogue and lyrics showing the level of devotion such fandoms exhibit. The parasocial relationship is based on bands that address their audience directly: “You told me you loved me through my headphones,” sings Edna – and the strong emotion that engenders is exploited by record companies to shift more units. But when that love is returned, it is sneered at and belittled, especially when the fandom comprises teenage girls and LGBTQ+ people.

The seriousness of that message is combined with Kurup trying to suggest that young women shouldn’t grow up coming to believe that this idealised, princess version of love is essential for their happiness. There are also calls about teen mental health, especially after Harry “goes missing” (the result of Edna taking her fanfic fantasies a little too far) and a hashtag promoting self-harm dominates the fandom’s socials. For teens, devastating events in pop groups’ lives can be their first encounter with grief and, Blake posits, should be taken seriously.

That a musical can have such serious messaging and convey it so well without coming across as worthy or preachy is commendable. Its achievement comes largely because it presents itself as unrelentingly dumb fun. Blake’s songs, naturally, tend toward the boy band bubblegum pop end of musical theatre, but uses that to weave a story of real heart, helping audiences of all generations see – or maybe relive – what teenage fandom can be like.

The production is enhanced immeasurably by a strong supporting cast. As Edna’s best friends, Chance may have the stronger voice, but Malone is a comedy whirlwind. They are backed up by a fierce Terique Jarrett as Edna’s online confidant Salty, and a multi-gendered ensemble in which Gracie McGonigal (The Little Big Things) stands out.

Right now, boy bands don’t have the same presence in the charts, or in teen hearts, as they once did. These things come and go, though, so even though the setting of Fangirls is currently one that perhaps feels more familiar to older audience members, it’s not a musical that feels dated. Instead, it feels vibrant, alive and wholeheartedly full of love. Fangirls tells us it loves us not through headphones, but with a full-on audiovisual blast – and it is impossible not to love it back.

Scott Matthewman