This is Our Youth – Cort Theatre, New York

There is always a danger in reviving a play about youth in which the setting plays such an important role that it will lose its relevance, but this does not seem to have happened at all to Kenneth Lonergan’s play, which premiered in 1996.  Granted, its 1982 setting was already over a decade old when it was written, which maybe partly accounts for its freshness.  In any event, the audience still relates to the characters’ struggles with identity, connection and meaning, helped by excellent performances, direction and set design.

Michael Cera, in the role of Warren Straub, who shows up at his friend Dennis Ziegler’s house with a bag of stolen money and a suitcase of 1960s collectables, has the blend of awkward yet endearing that we have come to expect from him.  That’s not to say that he isn’t excellent – there is a subtlety to the way he plays Warren, even as he finds the humour and physical comedy in his role, which speaks to the struggle we all go through to find our place in the world as we leave adolescence.  Kieran Culkin as Dennis also managed to bring depth to a character who is at times unlikable, trading on the past prestige and realising that this. As not always be enough.  Tavi Gevinson, who began a career as a blogger at the age of eleven, plays Jessica Goldman, fashion student and Warren’s crush, but despite some positive reviews, I thought her performance was by far the weakest of the three.  To be honest, her earnest delivery of every line in the same style was really grating on me by the end, but she is only 18, so maybe has time to develop her acting skills before being cast in anything else.  Let’s hope so.

This is also a play in which not much happens, at least on stage (offstage there is crime, sex, death and abuse, but onstage not much more than a lot of talking, watching tv, doing drugs, some dancing and a scuffle).  This is where the excellent direction by Anna Shapiro and set design by Todd Rosenthal ensure that it never feels swamped by the relatively large setting of the Cort Theatre.  Dennis’s small apartment is firmly placed in between the walls and windows of other apartment buildings, which simultaneously contains the action within a manageable space for the plot, and makes sure the outside world and the characters’ place in it is ever present.  Shapiro infuses the play with an energy and purpose which keeps it moving and keeps the audience engaged.  I saw the play when it was still in previews, and would be interested to see whether Gevinson’s performance improves over the relatively long run through exposure to the talent and experience around her, but As an overall experience and evening’s entertainment I certainly enjoyed and would recommend it.