Review: Reefer Madness

It was Rocky Horror Show with Jesus. It was Grease with spliffs. It shouldn’t have worked. And yet ‘Reefer Madness’ left The Tab feeling higher than one of its many stoned singers.

For one night only, we were concerned 1930s parents ushered into an American High School auditorium by a McCarthy-ish lecturer (the hilariously dead-pan Joshua Husselbee) to hear about the deadly ‘Reefer’ sweeping the nation.

The sad story of young Jimmy Harper and his Mary Lane – a cannabis smoking Romeo and Juliet – was brought to life before our eyes by the school’s Drama Society. We were able to see for ourselves how this demon drug rips young lives apart.

All photos: Jerusha Green

‘Reefer Madness’ is a hilarious send-up of a real 1930s anti-cannabis propaganda film, and the Drama Society did not disappoint. The audience was frequently in stitches at the ludicrous situations our boy and girl found themselves in.

Ed Jones and Kirsten Abo-Henriksen played Jimmy and Mary just straight enough that we found ourselves not only howling with laughter at their drugged-up antics but also caring about their fate.

The standard of the rest of the cast was, as we have come to expect from UEA Drama, incredibly high. Each member of the ensemble managed to excel at their many roles – from poor zombies murdered at the hands of marijuana, to naked people dancing enthusiastically with Jesus. Particularly of note was Tab favourite Sam Day, who played in turn the psychotic Ralph and a disturbingly sweet baby.

Equally hilarious were Sam Holland, Georgie Mathers and Gemma Barnett, playing a gangster and his molls luring unsuspecting all-American teens to their den of destruction. It is a testament to the director that he managed to find so many elusive ‘triple-threats’ here at UEA, and we frequently had to remind ourselves that we were watching a student production and not the latest West-End smash.

Although ‘Reefer Madness’ was a thought-provoking piece reminding us of the extent that propaganda can reach, it was primarily a comedy that managed to be both melodramatic (see placards constantly telling that audience that ‘Reefer annihilates true love) and deeply surreal.

By the end of the night, the audience were left feeling as if we’d been on a long trip down Stoners’ Lane. It might have been utter madness, but it was All-American, singing, dancing, marihuana leaf waving, ‘Reefer Madness’. And The Tab left the Drama Studio not only determined to stop the cannabis from killing our children, but completely bowled over at the talent our little university holds.