'Reefer Madness', 1930s Anti-Marijuana Film Turned Cult Musical, Makes Melbourne Premiere

In 2015, the NSW Government splashed $350,000 of public cash on a PSA warning about the dangers of smoking marijuana. Thus was born the Stoner Sloth, a new mascot for the baked masses; slow, stupid and shunned by family, friends and society at large because of the stupefying effects of the wacky tobacky. However, it didn't take long for the internet to tear the anti-marijuana campaign to shreds. Far from striking fear into the hearts of prospective drug abusers, the ad's depiction of regular pot smokers as groaning, barely lucid, listless sloths was subjected to widespread ridicule.

The humiliated ad creatives behind the Stoner Sloth can at least console themselves that this is not the first time an elaborate and conceptually wonky anti-marijuana campaign has fallen flat. In 1936, a Church funded shockumentary made a ham-fisted attempt to scare teens straight with a scathing dramatisation of the horrifying depravity awaiting anyone foolish enough to spark up a doobie. Reefer Madness had it all: a hit and run murder, suicide, bacchanalian sluttery and complete, irreparable psychosis. "Women cry for it; Men die for it!" the film's poster proudly claimed. "The sweet pill that makes life bitter," another confusingly mixed metaphor trumpeted.

If its message was bizarrely OTT, this was easily bested by the film's absurdly hysterical acting, but like other so-bad-its-good film efforts, Reefer Madness has since achieved cult status. In 1998, Kevin Murphy's off-Broadway musical transformed the film into a side-splitting satire, and in 2005, it provided the basis for a TV musical featuring an all-star cast including Alan Cumming and Kristen Bell. Reefer Madness: The Musical, is now blazing onto the stage at Chapel Off Chapel in Prahran for its Melbourne premiere. While the show holds nothing back in its mockery of its source material, it's far from advocating for drug use. "It's definitely not pro-marijuana. You don't need to be stoned to see this show," Director Stephen Wheat explains. "It celebrates the ridiculousness of propaganda and the lengths people will go to sell their point, regardless of the facts."

While this show shines a knowing light on the outlandish sensationalism of 1930s America, Wheat has been struck by the similarities between the laughable extremes satirised in Reefer Madness and the truth-free rhetoric of Donald Trump's Presidential campaign. "We decided to do this show a year ago, so we had no idea then that things in the US would draw such a clear parallel," he shares. "The show makes a lot of references to the kinds of cultural conversations that were being had in the '30s, not just about drugs but also race and women, and it's amazing how close some of those sentiments are to the alt-right today."

In his efforts to capture the spirit of the original film, subtlety was strictly prohibited during the rehearsal process, Wheat admits. "We decided very early on that 'Is that too much?' should never be asked. If you're looking to find some truth in this, you're in the wrong musical. It's so full of amazing one-liners and crazy songs, you have to go all out to pull it off." Because of its devil-may-care irreverence, Wheat believes Reefer Madness is an ideal musical for anyone who might not be particularly interested in the medium. "It's kind of a musical that makes fun of musicals, very much in the same vein as Book of Mormon or Avenue Q. They use the familiar elements - the emotional ballad or the upbeat opening number - in a way that doesn't take itself too seriously. And you know what, that silliness is absolutely necessary. There's that age old saying that theatre can take you away from your everyday life, and yes, sometimes it's important for theatre to be challenging and thought provoking. But sometimes, all you need is something that is shamelessly distracting. If you can laugh for a few hours at something utterly ridiculous and forget about all the doom and gloom in the world, I think that's brilliant."

Reefer Madness is at Chapel Off Chapel until Dec 4.