A rollercoaster ride through teen culture

BY REBECCA THOMSON - THE WELLINGTONIAN

A group of Wellington actors is thrilled to have received an email from a Booker Prize-winning author whose novel has been adapted for the stage.

The Long Cloud Youth theatre company is performing an adaptation of DBC Pierre's novel Vernon God Little at Downstage this month.

It is the story of how Vernon Gregory Little becomes the victim of a media feeding frenzy in the aftermath of a high school shooting in a small Texan town.

Willem Wassenaar is directing a 22-strong young cast who play a host of characters, including townsfolk, court judges, news reporters, convicts and students.

Pierre, an Australian author, sent the cast an email congratulating them on staging his story.

"Getting an email from the author, that was very cool. It was truly awesome," said Wassenaar.

When the book was published in 2003, it received some icy reviews. A reviewer from The Guardian compared it to the cartoon South Park.

Wassenaar sees it differently. He said Vernon God Little is a fascinating story that draws attention to America's gun culture, teenage insecurities and the media's role in telling stories and creating role models.

"It's a real rollercoaster ride and this a great adaptation. The structure of the play is like a fast-paced Quentin Tarantino road trip movie. The beauty is that it's being performed by the generation it's relevant to."

The Long Cloud Youth Company provides young actors, aged from 15 to 21, with an opportunity to perform in a professional setting and work with top theatrical directors and tutors.

Company actors Vanessa Cullen and Ben Crawford have read Vernon God Little and are enjoying the challenge of staging it.

"It's about our generation and it's cool to be doing a play about the sorts of things that affect us," Cullen said.

"Though no school shootings have happened here, it's happening all over the world and you can still relate to it because it's such a horrible thing."

The story was also a comment on American gun laws, she said.

"We did some research. If you are 16, in some parts of the US you can buy a gun with just a signature. You can basically hand over a typed note [at a gun shop] with your signature. It's ridiculous."

Crawford likes that the story looks at the media and its role in society

"You see how the media takes the tragedy and uses it for its own gain, and capitalises on it."

Cullen and Crawford said the media had a huge impact on teenagers and the play showed this.

"The media's constantly telling us to be perfect, to be rich, to dress well, to be popular," said Cullen.

"You can see how suffocating those things are for young people. The play gives you an idea of how Jesus [the killer in the story] could have become depressed and could have done what he did."

Vernon God Little opens on February 4.