Not dark enough, not funny enough, but just enough line-dancing to make it good.
It’s odd that Vernon God Little, now back at The Young Vic, is such a fun production to watch given that it’s about the aftermath of a high school massacre. But it’s also a shame that it fails to push many buttons or get the audience thinking about the subject matter. If it was laugh-a-minute funny you probably wouldn’t care whether it was thought-provoking or not, but it’s disappointingly middling on the humour front and leaves you wanting more.
Vernon Gregory Little stands accused of accessory to murder after his friend the Hispanic outsider kills sixteen of their classmates. With the police out to get him, the media looking for a story and his mum waiting on a new refrigerator while the rest of his slack-jawed neighbours decide to poke their noses in, he sets his sights on Mexico.
While Vernon (Joseph Drake) is an affable loner he's surrounded by raucous characters who would translate easily to cartoon. The outlandish townsfolk can make the play seem too SNL-like, but each scene is strangely believable until Vernon hits Mexico. News reports of his conduct and whereabouts are reminiscent of an amped-up version of The Daily Show. The silliness spirals until you get things like 'Who Should Die Tonight – the public votes' which doesn't even sound funny.
In a land of line-dancing and straw-chewing, Vernon's fried chicken-scoffing neighbours sing, dance and establish themselves as hilariously dopey. From the slimy news-reporter who screws around with his mum, to the braindead local police, the supporting characters are brilliant but the laughs don't come often enough. There's a sweet human element that's retained through the soft, blood-spattered figure of Jesus the murderer, played by a silent Luke Brady. Jesus plays a guitar as his sad story of pressure, abuse and alienation unfolds and we can understand why he snapped.
Credit should definitely go to the technical team behind this production. The set slides around pushed by the cast. A sofa becomes a car, an impressive execution chamber features and, as scenery falls from the sky, it transports the audience to the locations along Vernon's journey.
But with so much going on, the play becomes forgettable. Despite excusing the audience from having to think much, Vernon God Little is still worth seeing if only to explore the wonders line-dancing can do amidst tragedy.
Vernon God Little runs until 5th March at The Young Vic.
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