The Breakfast Club | Bouquets & Brickbats

19/06/26

Assembly Roxy (Downstairs), Edinburgh

Don’t You Forget About Me is described as ‘a monologue about nostalgia’ – and anyone who recognises that title from a popular Simple Minds song will know exactly which John Hughes film provides the inspiration.

In David Shopland’s script, he imagines himself as the forgotten sixth member of The Breakfast Club. Some 32 years later, he’s eagerly waiting for the others to arrive at his flat, where he’s hosting a bit of a reunion. He refers to them as the archetypes named in the film – The Athlete, The Brain, The Basket-Case, The Princess and The Criminal – each represented by a different coloured stool.

He predicts how they’ll behave when they arrive and then goes on to describe what happened to them in the past. In doing so, he is essentially recounting the plot of The Breakfast Club. Okay, he does it with confidence and some theatrical flair, but his character is barely present… I’m expecting a fresh perspective on the infamous Saturday detention but none is forthcoming.

Like a lot of other people, I saw the original film at the cinema on its 1985 UK release, and I rewatched it in 2017 as part of a John Hughes season. In my opinion, it stands the test of time very well.

So as somebody who’s familiar with the film, of course, I already know what happens, and I also recognise the references to other celebrated movies of the 1980s – Back To the Future, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the awful Sixteen Candles – but this simple retelling doesn’t add anything new to the mix. Then I find myself wondering what people in the audience who aren’t familiar with the movie are going to get from this and decide that doesn’t really compute. If they don’t know who the characters are and where they come from, what does that leave them with? A summary of a film they haven’t seen?

There is a coda to the play: a meditation on nostalgia and why the cultural landmarks of our teens remain so important throughout our lives. But it feels like too little, too late.

Don’t You Forget About Me is a new piece of work from production company Fake Escape – and Shopland tells us at the end that they are working it up here in Edinburgh. This makes sense: it feels like a WIP, even though it isn’t billed as such. I can’t help feeling this one has some way to go before it’s ready.

2.5 stars

Philip Caveney

01/10/17

John Hughes’ 1985 coming-of-age movie is fondly remembered by many, exemplifying the writer/director’s instinctive understanding of the teenage mindset. And I’m delighted to report that its heart hasn’t died, despite the fact that it’s grown old.

Actually, it’s not all that long since I’ve watched it; it’s one of those films I return to periodically: an easy fix of feelgood catharsis, guaranteed to make me laugh and cry as I wallow in nostalgia, mouthing the words that I know by heart. But I’ve never seen it on the big screen before, so The Cameo’s John Hughes season is very welcome indeed. I seize my chance.

The plot, such as it is, is very simple: five kids, each representing a different high school social group, spend a Saturday together in detention for various misdeeds. During the course of their enforced proximity, they get to know one another. And they learn, famously, that each one of them is, in fact, “a brain, an athlete, a basket-case, a princess and a criminal” – i.e. that they’re more similar and more complex than their stereotypes suggest.

But this isn’t really about plot at all; it’s character-driven drama in its purest form. Nothing happens and everything happens. It’s a journey of self-discovery, and of developing empathy; an expose of the tragedies – both large and small – that drive young people into reckless acts. From the undeniable awfulness of Bender (Judd Nelson)’s homelife – where he’s burned with a cigar for spilling paint on the garage floor – to the peer-pressure heaped on spoilt-little-rich-girl Claire (Molly Ringwald), Hughes’s script recognises the reality of their misery, compounded as it is by the lack of autonomy that comes with the territory.

My favourite moment is when Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) explains the reason he’s in detention: he tried to kill himself because he got an F in ‘shop’ (design technology). It’s painful to watch, and always makes me weep, but then it’s so beautifully undercut by the revelation that he messed the suicide up too, attempting to use a flare gun which went off in his locker, which makes the others laugh despite the gravity of what he’s telling them. It’s glorious.

Emilio Estevez (the athlete) and Ally Sheedy (the basket-case) give excellent performances too (although I still think Allison has more style before the make-over scene than after), as does Paul Gleason as the egocentric teacher, Mr Vernon.

If you haven’t seen The Breakfast Club before, it’s honestly a must. And if you’ve not indulged in it for a while, maybe now’s the time to watch it again. It’s a perfect little film: funny as anything and guaranteed to wring tears from all but the stoniest of viewers.

5 stars

Susan Singfield