|
This Is Our Youth
By Kenneth Lonergan
Directed by Matt Miller
Presented by Pine Box Theatre
At the Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 312-902-1500, tickets $20
Thursdays & Fridays at 8PM
Saturdays at 4 & 8 PM
Running time 2hrs 10 min with Intermission
Through December 2, 2006
"Ronald Reagan is President of the United States, I mean, how embarrassing is that?" ---Jessica from This Is Our Youth
Look at late teen values rings true today
Set in the 1980’s in a Manhattan studio, This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan now playing at the Athenaeum Theatre studio is a comedy/drama by screenwriter Longeran (Analyze This & You Can Count on Me). Longeran has an ear for contemporary dialogue---vernacular "it's like, totally, totally funny, like it stays with you” are used generously by the three 19-21 year olds. This show is surprisingly funny.
Set in Reagan Era money grubbing Manhattan, three college-age New Yorkers from wealthy families live in self-induced doped-up squalor (upon entering the intimate theatre, we see cloths, shoes and 33 LP’s thrown about ). Dennis (Jon Barinholtz), a too-cool small-time drug dealer, Warren (Rob Belushi), a hero-worshiping codependent, and Jessica (Anne Adams), a mixed-up prep school girl. When Warren steals $15,000 cash from his father, he decides to take Jessica out for a night of seduction, while Dennis wants to finance a larger drug deal with the money.
Longeran admits the plot came from his own experience as a hedonistic young rich kid. His dialogue and portrayal of the 19-year olds was distinctly told from the male point of view---it’s like having a video player in an 80’s walk-up and unfolds better than any episode of MTV’s Real World. The period after high school and before one enters into the adult world is the scariest, most contradictory and dangerous time for emerging youths. Longeran accurately has the guys slant on this anxious, contradictory period.
 |
We meet Dennis, played with strong emotions with a manic command by the Jon Barinholtz, the loud-mouth, vane ‘wheeler-deal’ who brags about his confident command of his world. Barinholtz is charming, obnoxious, yet vulnerable. His act two “high on fear” scene was a sustained emotional journey bordering on panic---fine work. Anne Adams, as Jessica, combined little girl shyness with understated sensuality as she slowly warms to Warren’s advances. Adams captures the mysterious elements men find elusive in women. Rob Belushi’s Warren depicted the insecurity of teens as his life seems full of uncertainties and insecurities. Accurately, Warren is fixed on the two necessities of teen life---getting high and getting laid! Belushi has Warren’s victim manner yet he sprinkles him with charm, an innocent honesty as he exudes basic goodness.
Jessica’s insightful look at Warren sums up the play: "What you're like now has nothing to do with what you're gonna be like. Like, right now you're all this rich little pot-smoking burnout rebel, but then years from now you're gonna be like a plastic surgeon reminiscing about how you used to be."
Act two contains powerful insights that crush the immortality beliefs of teens as fear of the future rocks home to Dennis. The role of friendship between the boys necessitates an implied acceptance that gets strained here. I liked the work of all three players whose honesty and naturalism rings true. Belushi’s underplaying of the nerd boy garnered many laughs. This Is Our Youth is an excellent ‘date play’ that will relate to the 20’something crowd filled with raw humor and truth. There’s a scary warning in act two that negates the pleasures of drug use shown in earlier scenes. Kudos to Pine Box Theatre for this ‘coming of age’ urban tale.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: October 19, 2006
|
