The foibles and follies of youth as well as what it means to properly come of age have been a recurring theme in the local theater scene as of late.
Coming at the heels of the recently concluded run of No Filter 2.0 is Red Turnip’s staging of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth, a play directed by Topper Fabregas about the friendship of two Jewish men in their early 20’s living in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1982. Dennis (Jef Flores) and Warren (Nicco Manalo) are both in a crucial, transitional phase of their lives: They’re young misfits learning to live like actual adults who still find themselves chained to their insecurities and childlike habits and sensibilities.
When Warren drops by Dennis’ flat one night with $15,000 he stole from his dad, they are faced with a dilemma: What should they do with the money? Should they spend it? Return it? Invest it in the drug-dealing schemes they concocted and make it grow? Complicating their decision is the arrival of Jessica (Cindy Lopez), who serves both as Warren’s love interest and a sounding board to his general life philosophy. In the intimate yet snappy discussions between the three characters, insights about identity, masculinity, relationships, and adulthood are revealed.
A mirror of two generations
This play, set in the ’80s and written in the ’90s, feels just as relevant now in the mid-2010’s. The much-maligned millennial generation are not too different from the youth of 30 years ago, apparently. On the surface, Dennis and Warren possess traits that may be recognizable to the youth of today: the way they cling on to remnants and relics of their childhood, their awkwardness with dealing with members of the opposite sex, their attempts to prove to others (but mostly to themselves) that they have what it takes to live like functional adults.
But what might also resonate with millennials, who are accused of being, among other things, narcissistic, self-entitled, and lost, are the problems and uncertainties that these characters face, foremost of which is how to deal with the generation that came before them. The way Warren is conflicted about what to do with the cash is very similar to the way certain millennials cope with the privilege and the self-loathing that comes with having too much of it. This play explores our inescapably tortured relationship with our parents and the materialist culture we live in—how do we rid ourselves of the guilt of benefitting from the fruits of our parents’ labors?
We never see the parents of these characters but their spectral presence hangs over the play, much like the way adults and authority figures assert themselves in the lives of millenials. This conflict between generations become even more pronounced when Jessica talks about how Gen X-ers feel about the Hippie Generation who seemed to have sold out their principles. It seems like a recurring trope: There is always a way to be disappointed with the youth, and for the youth to feel that the people now in charge betrayed them.
A common thread
But perhaps what is more palpable to audiences when looking at these characters is the sense of being lost and wanting to find direction. This play renders post-adolescence as a quest for intimacy and purpose.
“You look at these two people, and the question that hopefully the audience will ask is ‘Will they ever be able to accomplish the things they said they would, the things they promise themselves all the time, or are they stuck here forever?’” says Jef of the two lead characters.
Dennis, Warren, and Jessica are all immature and damaged to varying degrees, but the play seems to suggest that their redemption can be found in their tight friendship and possible romance. Despite the myriad of cultural and social changes that have occurred over the past two decades, some things haven’t changed—most of us might all be doomed to become fuck-ups and disappointments, but it is the possibility of confronting grown-up life together that might save us.
To see the rest of the photos from This Is Our Youth’s rehearsal before opening night, click through the slideshow above!
Red Turnip Theater is staging This is Our Youth tonight until Nov. 22 at A Space_Gallery, 5/F, 110 Legazpi Street, Makati City. Tickets are available at Ticketworld.
Photos by Paolo Tabuena