I was the slightest bit skeptical when I read the title of the play "This Is Our Youth." After all, I discovered that the play was written in the late '90s with the early '80s as its backdrop. This was not my youth; it was the youth of dot-com prodigies and the original tech kids. But as I emerged from the play's preview show last Friday night, I was struck by how "Youth" displays the universal disillusionment, uncertainty and invincibility that typify the youth of every decade. The simple, stately title "This Is Our Youth" hints at a shared experience, though it barely hints at the complexities of this tragicomic work.
Written by Kenneth Lonergan, the scribe of "Analyze This!" and the Oscar-nominated "You Can Count on Me," "Youth" is a slice of disaffected twenty-somethings' lives spanning the period of a weekend. Three members of the hipster generation are searching for an escape from the monotony of their upper-crest existence. The offspring of wealthy Manhattanites, each is lost, attempting to navigate the choppy waters of transitional adulthood in order to find purpose and meaning in their own lives. Crime, drugs, sex and death become their lurking companions. Their confusion is so thick, their insecurity so rampant, that each phrase of dialogue can be a cutting barb or a plea for help.
Not that humor is lost in the vicious battles of words. Within the short, pointed dialogue there is biting sarcasm and irony dashed with startling self-awareness. The recipe produces multiple lines worthy of snorts and snickers, completely relatable to most Dartmouth students.
Skillfully directed by Timothy Chingos '08, all the facets of 1980s life come alive in a poignant and potent production. Chingos selected this play because of the humor and physicality within the script, its adaptability and the spontaneity of the characters' actions.
"It was really something I could relate to," he said. "These three characters really feel lost in their world and don't know what to follow or where to go. I'm not being walked to a far-away land and asked to buy into something that's really really outside my realm of thought."
The entire play takes place within one character's apartment, a set artfully designed by Anna Cates '06. The worn beanbag chairs, the bare mattress peaking from beneath faded sheets and the few photos scattered across a bedside table seem the perfect setting for any twenty-something's life.
Billy McCarthy '09, Christoper Smith '08 and Katie Dutko '09 play the three leads in honest performances. McCarthy's character is nervous, awkward and flanked by the memories of a difficult childhood and the effects of his sister's death. Nakedly honest in his uncertainty, his movements are a parade of shrugs, twitches and nods. Smith moves with a tough-guy swagger and exudes a studly bravado that dares anyone to challenge him. Between these two males stands the equally wayward Dutko, an edgy hipster in danger of falling victim to need-blind reality. These three characters have made "Youth" especially popular amongst Hollywood actors searching for coveted stage work outside the United States. In London's West End Theater, productions in 2002 and 2003 featured such accomplished actors as Casey Affleck, Alison Lohman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar-winners Matt Damon and Anna Paquin.
"This Is Our Youth" runs March 6, 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. in the Bentley Theater.
