Mr Burns, a post-electric play: What to Expect

 Mr Burns is a contemporary American play with script and lyrics written by Anne Washburn and a musical score written by Michael Friedman. The play was first produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington DC) in 2012. This production of Mr Burns has been co-produced with State Theatre Company of South Australia and opened at Belvoir on Saturday 20 May 2017. The production is directed by Imara Savage.

 Mr Burns runs for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including one 20 minute interval.

 Mr Burns is set in America in the near-future. Act One (set in the woods) opens in the wake of a widespread nuclear-plant failure which has destroyed the country and its electrical grid. A group of survivors huddle at a makeshift camp and pass the time by trying to recount ‘Cape Feare’, a popular episode of The Simpsons. Act Two (set in an abandoned warehouse) takes place seven years later, in a post-electric world. The same group of survivors now makes their living by performing a small repertoire of Simpsons episodes, along with advertisements for luxury products from the past and former chart-topping songs. Act Three (set in an amphitheatre at night) takes place 75 years later where The Simpsons has assumed mythic proportions. The ‘Cape Feare’ episode is performed as an epic musical performance, but the story has been transformed and includes references to the events of Act One and Act Two.

 The style of the production ranges from slightly heightened naturalism in Act One to the epic performance style of Act Three, which is entirely sung. The language used in each Act reflects this.

 The play has at its core a question of how stories endure and change. In her writer’s note Anne Washburn explains that it was her intention to take a pop culture narrative and see ‘what it meant, and how it changed, after the fall of Civilization.’ She also says ‘ Our culture – national, family, peer, personal – is defined, not so much by what has happened to us, but by how we remember it, and the story we create from that memory.’

 The episode of The Simpsons the survivors recount is the Cape Feare episode (Season 5) in which the young Bart is stalked by the murderous character of Sideshow Bob. The episode is a spoof of the 1962 film Cape Fear and its 1991 remake directed by Martin Scorsese. Students who have seen the American cartoon The Simpsons will enjoy the references in the play but students do not have to have seen The Simpsons to understand what is happening. Some familiarity with the characters in The Simpsons would assist students.

 Students should be prepared for all of the characters in Act One and Act Two to carry guns for self-protection as chaos and danger govern ‘post-electric’ America. At one point during Act One characters point their guns upstage at a new survivor (Morgan) who has interrupted their gathering. At the end of Act Two the characters point their guns at a group of more threatening intruders. The intruders are never seen onstage but positioned by the director offstage, behind the audience. The audience hears the sounds of loud gunshots as a female character falls down wounded (possibly killed) on the stage and the other characters are seen fleeing the stage. Fake blood splatters the stage. The moments preceding this shooting is tense and the scene may be frightening for some students.

 During Act Three (when the ‘Cape Feare’ episode has been transformed into an epic musical) the character of Mr Burns stalks the ‘Thompson’ family onto a houseboat after a nuclear meltdown has forced them to flee Springfield. One by one Mr Burns throws Homer, Marge and then Lisa off the boat into a piranha infested river before his shadow can be seen moving behind a window on the boat attacking a shadow puppet of baby Maggie. Only Bart survives the attack, going on to (theatrically) sword fight Mr Burns, throwing him overboard. While the performance style is non-naturalistic, some students may find the character of Mr Burns threatening. Equally, students will find many comic moments in the musical performance.

 Mr Burns contains strong language on one occasion only when a character swears out of frustration. The actors perform their roles in American accents.

 Characters are seen drinking alcohol during the play. In Act One the survivors share beers around a camp fire and in Act Two the theatre troupe has begun to brew and drink their own beer.

 Schools performance tickets are not sent out beforehand, we call schools into the theatre one by one for the daytime school performances – phone our box office on 9699 3444 if you need to check your booking. Students need to be briefed about theatre etiquette. Please turn mobile phones off completely and refrain from eating in the theatre. Students need to know that the performance is live and that the actors see and hear them in the audience. We encourage laughter and natural reactions. Taking notes shouldn’t happen during performances. Schools shows are followed by a Question and Answer session with the cast. Students will have a chance to ask question about anything they don’t fully understand afterwards.