Greek Australian actor Tony Nikolakopoulos is set to star in the Malthouse Theatre’s production of the show Pompeii, L.A. Nikolakopoulos plays multiple characters in the play, but the most interesting of all is the one he plays as a bodyguard to a child star who is completely out of control – he manages her, dresses her and is generally very protective of her.
This is the only role in the show played by an adult not trying to exploit child stars. Pompeii, L.A. is a play on the plight of the child star, and with the list of luminaries such as Lindsay Lohan, Judy Garland, Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson swelling the ranks, it’s a rare child star who makes it to adulthood unscathed, if at all.
As drug addiction, jail time and rehab become increasingly the norm, former child stars are a phenomenon so aligned with self-destruction it’s practically a cliche. This cliche, however, is the reality of Pompeii, L.A., a world in which the no-longer-cute-enough are chewed up and spat out … generation after generation. Set in Los Angeles on the brink of the apocalypse, Pompeii L.A. parallels the fractured reality of an unnamed child star with the destruction of capitalism itself.
As the life of our child star unravels after a terrible accident, Pompeii, L.A. follows his damaged young mind as it folds inwards and scrambles for an escape. Instead of relief, however, what he finds is a world in which reality and nightmare collide – a schizoid universe populated by Judy Garland and a host of ex-child stars who are all grown up with nowhere to go.
Pompeii, L.A. is an extraordinarily bold new Australian work. Written by Declan Greene, one of this generation’s most electric playwrights, directed by Malthouse Theatre’s Associate Artist Matthew Lutton, and starring a host of (very mature) Australian stars including David Harrison, Anna Samson, Belinda McClory, Tony Nikolakopoulos, Luke Ryan, and Greg Stone, Pompeii, L.A. is a psychedelic trip that turns celebrity culture inside out … and back again.
The opening night for Pompeii, L.A. is Thursday 22 November and will run until 9 December at the Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank. For tickets and booking information visit www.malthouse.com.au or call (03) 9685 5111.