Our Generation
Theatre | National Theatre | ★★★★✩
Reviewed by John Nathan
How does Alecky Blythe follow her groundbreaking show London Road, which in 2011 pushed the boundaries of what a show could be? The answer is the epic yet intimate sweep of Our Generation, which ambitiously attempts to unlock the most closely guarded secrets known to mankind: the thoughts, feelings and opinions of teenagers.
Using methods similar to previous verbatim works, Blythe dispatched five “collectors” to record interviews and conversations with 12 children from six schools across the length and breadth of the UK, over a period of five years. The result is 656 hours of recordings which have been whittled down to a captivating show of three hours and 45 minutes.
That huge task completed, each teen is allocated a talented actor who replicates voice, accent and inflection of his or her real-life character.
From Robyn (Anna Burnett) in Glasgow, who grows into a one-woman counter culture who refuses to conform to Snapchat and Insta vanity, to Luan (Hélder Fernandes), the bad boy of a Kosovan family of refugees from the Balkan war, who develops into a focused basketball player of pro potential.
Then there is the self-doubt of sweet Ierum (Rachelle Diedericks) who worries about her weight, and the fragility of posh Lucas (Joe Bolland) who has every advantage (and knows it) but which makes his breakdown during lockdown no less touching.
Verbatim theatre is a technique which has had diminishing dramatic returns since The Tricycle Theatre (now Kiln) used it to recreate important courtroom proceedings and official enquiries. But Blythe’s methods — directed here by Daniel Evans — unveil the dramatic potential of everyday conversation. This is the stage equivalent of photorealistic paintings.
Similarly, what is fascinating here is the way in which the tiniest details of real life are replicated. Pauses, laughter and snorts are all part of the appeal. The great exponents of realistic dialogue — Mamet, Pinter, Shepherd — are nowhere near as real as this. That’s not to say that great plays can be made by pressing a record button.
But when filtered through the skills of Blythe and Evans, and performed by actors who allow the personalities of real people to take possession, but without mimicking or making fun of them, the result puts the audience within touching distance of the human condition. It can also be very funny. Bookish Callum from Belfast (Connor Gormally) is reassessing his ambitions.
“For years I’ve been thinking ‘wrestler, wrestler, wrestler’. But now I think ‘Yes, that would be good as a sideline…’”
For parents with restricted access to how their teenage children think, it is a must. The same is true for teens who think their fears and hopes are unique to them.