Our Generation - Dorfman (NT)/Minerva (Chichester)

[andrew]

Feb 17, 2022 17:09:04 GMT mkb said:

Already had last Friday's show cancelled on me. Switched to tomorrow. Just had that cancelled, 30 minutes after the deadline for cancelling my hotel, who are insisting I stay or lose the money.

And, as usual, the NT have automatically generated a credit note rather than offer a full refund. (I'd take the credit note, but it's the presumption that stinks.)

That's really gutting, sorry that you're in this position. I hope there's maybe something else you can see instead?

[samuelwhiskers]

Tonight and tomorrow cancelled due to Covid.

[Mark]

Shame it's having continued cancellations. I'm booked for Friday so hoping it will go ahead.

[justinj]

The writer Alecky Blythe stood in for one of the actors who was off with Covid tonight.

[Mark]

Must agree with the two earlier posters, this is 5* Brilliant, must see theatre. Clocking in at 3 hrs 40 tonight (with a 15 minute interval and a 10 minute pause), It flew by, and I didn't want it to end. Very engaging, with both heartbreaking and hilarious moments. Don't miss it.

I was sat in the side block and it was classed as restricted view, but it was not restricted at all. I'd probably avoid the very far side block though and go to the more central ones.

[showgirl]

So relieved (and delighted for those who did enjoy it) as on the strength of the first rave review, I booked to see this in Chichester and treated myself to a more expensive ticket than usual, plus the associated meal deal, so I wondered whether I'd made a costly mistake when the less positive comments followed. Now all that need concern me is whether trains or the performance itself is/are cancelled.

[mkb]

I managed to see Our Generation tonight on my third attempt, and I wish I hadn't bothered. The Dorfman's seats, with their wafer-thin foam padding, are bad enough at the best of times, but for over three and a half hours, and for a production that fails to offer any diversion from posterior aches, this was quite the endurance test.

I should say from the outset that there was an enthusiastic standing ovation from most of the audience, so maybe I am in the minority, but I was so grateful when it was all over.

How this group of teenagers was selected for interviews over the course of five years, I cannot fathom, because they have little of actual interest to say. Their attitudes, immaturity, superficiality and self-centredness reflect badly on their generation. I did not warm to them. They are nothing like young people I meet, who are savvy, smart and care about others.

The selection of audio clips to re-enact could have been halved or cut further with nothing lost. There was nothing insightful to be found.

I pondered why the Up documentary series was so compelling, yet Our Generation singularly fails to engage. The answer lies in the careful choice of fascinating participants, the masterful editing of hours of footage, and the fact that Up had a narrative purpose to demonstrate how class is instrumental in determining who we become. Our Generation has no over-arching agenda; it's just random musings. Even the effects of the global pandemic, which this piece could have been centred around, feel tacked on as a late addition, consuming just the first half of the short Act 3.

It was clear the cast were not acting directly from the words on the page, but rather listening to the recorded interviews, then seeking to do an impersonation. They achieve this remarkably well, and are to be commended. The range of accents, mostly sounding authentic, was astonishing.

A pattern of horizontal and vertical tube lights moved up and down over the needlessly high thrust stage. Quite why escaped me. Similarly perplexing was the decision to break the fourth wall on occasion, including offering crudités to the front row, stage right.

This production felt like a self-indulgent vanity project. I was bored, and the time dragged severely, but it was clear that many others were of a more appreciative mindset.

Two stars.

Act 1: 19:06-20:24
Act 2: 20:40-21:52
Act 3: 22:03-22:39

[Notes on seating: the stage is about 1.2m high. My eye level, on the front row centre block, was just a tad above this. The front rows of the side blocks in the Pit arguably have a better view, as they are raised about 40cm. The second rows of these side blocks are on the same level as the row in front, and offer no rake. On the sections of these side blocks that have four rows, the third row also has no rake.]

[samuelwhiskers]

Did this ever get a press night, or was it rescheduled again?

[barelyathletic]

Press Night last night and it should get positive reviews. Yes it's overlong and episodic but the characters are so engaging and funny you can't help but root for them through their difficulties, teenage angst and attempts to deal with modern life and all its problems. I certainly wouldn't want to be a teen now but they come across as hopeful, optimistic and generally full of positive energy about life whatever it throws at them (collectively and individually it's a lot). I struggled a bit with the varying ages as the stories unfold, especially as the young and very impressive actors are all in their early twenties, and some stories don't develop as well as others but all of them have their moments - Hélder Fernandes in particular, making his professional stage debut, as basketball player Luan is wonderful, a real revelation  and star in the making - and this is generally a warm, funny and delightful evening of theatre in very good company. Four stars.

[showgirl]

3 stars from The Stage.

[Deleted]

I quite enjoyed this. Found it deeply moving, incredibly well acted and beautifully directed. It's certainly a bit long and could do with some trimming, but I think it's marvelous.

[Someone in a tree]

🌟🌟 From the Independent.

The montage scenes about mobile phones sound a bit Chorus Line. Are they?

[barelyathletic]

Pleased to see it's generally received very, very positive reviews with lots of love for the play and the talented young cast. A lot of four stars. The Guardian, Time Out, Evening Standard and Telegraph all loved it.

[theoracle]

I managed to catch this on Thursday night and whilst it was definitely overlong, it really didn’t feel that long. I don’t know how much I really connected with any of the characters but it held my attention. Each character was well defined and had their own personality. The set is very bare and I think the script was well constructed for this. There were plenty of laughs around me too and I think we saw some very bright talent in this too. Prices aren’t bad either so with 3.5hours, you definitely get your moneys worth.

[swill]

Shocking.

Too long, boring characters that were simply annoying and you couldn’t relate to them. Some elements such as the exam was excellent but I wanted to root for it but couldn't. The cast is fantastic, Blythe should cut half the material and maybe then it would be more relatable and interesting.

Every piece of comedy with the audience and interaction was unecessary and cheap laughs. I’m sorry why do they give out carrots!?!?! 

The lighting is serviceable, the set is boring and kind of useless. Felt like a workshop not a paid performance despite the fantastic effort from the performers especially the actors playing Callum, Lucas and Annabelle.

2⭐️ (only more than 0 because of the cast who were very talented)

[cavocado]

I liked it, but thought it was too long by 20-30 minutes. Easily 3 stars, but with a bit more editing it could have been 4.

I have teenage kids, and recognised a lot of this. I'm not sure how much that influenced my enjoyment - I think part of my fascination was in seeing a coherent bigger picture of teenage life, and thinking about where the young people I know fit into that landscape.

I think it's really hard to capture 'real' teenagers, when, as a demographic, their interests, vocabulary, speech patterns, emotional landscape, etc change so frequently. I took my son to see Fair Play a few weeks ago, which I enjoyed, but he said it felt patronising and an 'older person's idea of what teenagers are like' (because to him a 30 year old playwright is an 'older person'). I wish he'd been able to come to this, because I'd be interested in the perspective of someone from that age group. To me it seemed to capture really well that balance between young people facing the same issues we've all faced growing up, and the pressures/influence of social media, phones and modern life, which can make their lives seem completely alien compared to teenagers just a decade or two ago.

I found a lot of the characters' stories absorbing and moving, and I loved the way it gave a panorama of different family types, regions, social and economic classes, experiences, types of schools, but picked out the common themes and wove it all together into several strong coming-of-age stories. The performances were good across the board, and I was surprised by how easily the actors switched between characters - very clear to the audience despite minimal (sometimes no) changes in costume and props.

I also liked the interraction with the audience and don't understand swill 's reaction - it was playful and funny, changed the mood and made the characters accessible in a different way.

But there was so much material here that I think some of it could have been cut and still left a coherent and entertaining play.

[swill]

Mar 13, 2022 11:11:10 GMT cavocado said:

I liked it, but thought it was too long by 20-30 minutes. Easily 3 stars, but with a bit more editing it could have been 4.

I have teenage kids, and recognised a lot of this. I'm not sure how much that influenced my enjoyment - I think part of my fascination was in seeing a coherent bigger picture of teenage life, and thinking about where the young people I know fit into that landscape.

I think it's really hard to capture 'real' teenagers, when, as a demographic, their interests, vocabulary, speech patterns, emotional landscape, etc change so frequently. I took my son to see Fair Play a few weeks ago, which I enjoyed, but he said it felt patronising and an 'older person's idea of what teenagers are like' (because to him a 30 year old playwright is an 'older person'). I wish he'd been able to come to this, because I'd be interested in the perspective of someone from that age group. To me it seemed to capture really well that balance between young people facing the same issues we've all faced growing up, and the pressures/influence of social media, phones and modern life, which can make their lives seem completely alien compared to teenagers just a decade or two ago.

I found a lot of the characters' stories absorbing and moving, and I loved the way it gave a panorama of different family types, regions, social and economic classes, experiences, types of schools, but picked out the common themes and wove it all together into several strong coming-of-age stories. The performances were good across the board, and I was surprised by how easily the actors switched between characters - very clear to the audience despite minimal (sometimes no) changes in costume and props.

I also liked the interraction with the audience and don't understand swill 's reaction - it was playful and funny, changed the mood and made the characters accessible in a different way.

But there was so much material here that I think some of it could have been cut and still left a coherent and entertaining play.

Hi. 
I understand the marmite reaction that people have experienced because of this play. I, having gone through COVID in school and was part of the year who very recently did their GCSEs and a levels I just did not understand some of the characters behaviour especially the immaturity of Ierum. 

I think that it did feel like it was written by someone much older than the generation which was its downfall.

There were elements that I loved especially the physical moments including the ‘exams’. I will reiterate that the cast was fantastic. The direction and writing was just subpar. The verbatim aspect could’ve been well used but the lack of stakes from ANY character made it very challenging to relate and get along with the story that was 4 hours long when I watched it. 

A play about ‘Our Generation’ should relate to that generation no?, and it didn’t.

glad people have enjoyed it however, the carrots interaction especially was strange and completely unrelated to the scene being performed unlike other interactions which were slightly connected.

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2022 11:48:55 GMT swill said:

Mar 13, 2022 11:11:10 GMT cavocado said:

I liked it, but thought it was too long by 20-30 minutes. Easily 3 stars, but with a bit more editing it could have been 4.

I have teenage kids, and recognised a lot of this. I'm not sure how much that influenced my enjoyment - I think part of my fascination was in seeing a coherent bigger picture of teenage life, and thinking about where the young people I know fit into that landscape.

I think it's really hard to capture 'real' teenagers, when, as a demographic, their interests, vocabulary, speech patterns, emotional landscape, etc change so frequently. I took my son to see Fair Play a few weeks ago, which I enjoyed, but he said it felt patronising and an 'older person's idea of what teenagers are like' (because to him a 30 year old playwright is an 'older person'). I wish he'd been able to come to this, because I'd be interested in the perspective of someone from that age group. To me it seemed to capture really well that balance between young people facing the same issues we've all faced growing up, and the pressures/influence of social media, phones and modern life, which can make their lives seem completely alien compared to teenagers just a decade or two ago.

I found a lot of the characters' stories absorbing and moving, and I loved the way it gave a panorama of different family types, regions, social and economic classes, experiences, types of schools, but picked out the common themes and wove it all together into several strong coming-of-age stories. The performances were good across the board, and I was surprised by how easily the actors switched between characters - very clear to the audience despite minimal (sometimes no) changes in costume and props.

I also liked the interraction with the audience and don't understand swill 's reaction - it was playful and funny, changed the mood and made the characters accessible in a different way.

But there was so much material here that I think some of it could have been cut and still left a coherent and entertaining play.

Hi. 
I understand the marmite reaction that people have experienced because of this play. I, having gone through COVID in school and was part of the year who very recently did their GCSEs and a levels I just did not understand some of the characters behaviour especially the immaturity of Ierum. 

I think that it did feel like it was written by someone much older than the generation which was its downfall.

There were elements that I loved especially the physical moments including the ‘exams’. I will reiterate that the cast was fantastic. The direction and writing was just subpar. The verbatim aspect could’ve been well used but the lack of stakes from ANY character made it very challenging to relate and get along with the story that was 4 hours long when I watched it. 

A play about ‘Our Generation’ should relate to that generation no?, and it didn’t.

glad people have enjoyed it however, the carrots interaction especially was strange and completely unrelated to the scene being performed unlike other interactions which were slightly connected.

Um…. It WAS basically written by people of that generation. Alecky simply pieced together the interviews. None of these words belong to her - but all to actual teens. It’s verbatim.

[swill]

Mar 13, 2022 13:37:27 GMT @somedaywhenitsme said:

Mar 13, 2022 11:48:55 GMT swill said:

Hi. 
I understand the marmite reaction that people have experienced because of this play. I, having gone through COVID in school and was part of the year who very recently did their GCSEs and a levels I just did not understand some of the characters behaviour especially the immaturity of Ierum. 

I think that it did feel like it was written by someone much older than the generation which was its downfall.

There were elements that I loved especially the physical moments including the ‘exams’. I will reiterate that the cast was fantastic. The direction and writing was just subpar. The verbatim aspect could’ve been well used but the lack of stakes from ANY character made it very challenging to relate and get along with the story that was 4 hours long when I watched it. 

A play about ‘Our Generation’ should relate to that generation no?, and it didn’t.

glad people have enjoyed it however, the carrots interaction especially was strange and completely unrelated to the scene being performed unlike other interactions which were slightly connected.

Um…. It WAS basically written by people of that generation. Alecky simply pieced together the interviews. None of these words belong to her - but all to actual teens. It’s verbatim.

And as someone of ‘that generation’ did there need to be 12 different stories? Could have Blythe cut some of the material to make it engaging - yes. The teens stories were heartbreaking and funny, but also, for some of them, very moany, boring and immature for any teen of that age. 
Maybe I just don’t enjoy verbatim theatre? Blythe could’ve cut it down to make it more…soemthing, to make things happen… quicker. It was interesting, I just didn’t like more than 1/2 of it.
Half my group (of 10) loved it, half hated it. It’s very opinionated piece in terms of politics and characters.

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2022 14:03:56 GMT swill said:

Mar 13, 2022 13:37:27 GMT @somedaywhenitsme said:

Um…. It WAS basically written by people of that generation. Alecky simply pieced together the interviews. None of these words belong to her - but all to actual teens. It’s verbatim.

And as someone of ‘that generation’ did there need to be 12 different stories? Could have Blythe cut some of the material to make it engaging - yes. The teens stories were heartbreaking and funny, but also, for some of them, very moany, boring and immature for any teen of that age. 
Maybe I just don’t enjoy verbatim theatre? Blythe could’ve cut it down to make it more…soemthing, to make things happen… quicker. It was interesting, I just didn’t like more than 1/2 of it.
Half my group (of 10) loved it, half hated it. It’s very opinionated piece in terms of politics and characters.

Now, that's completely a fair assessment. If it wasn't your bag, nothing wrong there! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as I did, I was very moved. I do agree it could do with some trimming though...

But mostly, I just wanted to make the point that if you didn't find the teens believable, I'm afraid that's on you as it's all actual words by teens. 

[oxfordsimon]

These words were collated and edited by a writer who has been active as an actor and writer since 2003 and so is around 40.

Creating a piece of verbatim theatre is not just a matter of transcribing what was said and performing it. It is about an editing process which means the authenticity of the voices starts to diminish. A certain element will always be lost.

I don't think it is right to critique a teenage commenter for saying that it didn't ring fully true to them. The very way such a piece like this is created means that only certain parts of certain voices make the cut, only certain voices are even heard/considered in the first place. It cannot ever seek to reflect all teenage life. It cannot ever be truly authentic. It is a construct filtered through the brain of a writer who is more 20 years older than any of the participants.

It isn't a piece that can represent a generation. It doesn't surprise me that there are those who find it doesn't feel true to their own experience.

[cavocado]

Mar 13, 2022 15:11:07 GMT @somedaywhenitsme said:

Mar 13, 2022 14:03:56 GMT swill said:

And as someone of ‘that generation’ did there need to be 12 different stories? Could have Blythe cut some of the material to make it engaging - yes. The teens stories were heartbreaking and funny, but also, for some of them, very moany, boring and immature for any teen of that age. 
Maybe I just don’t enjoy verbatim theatre? Blythe could’ve cut it down to make it more…soemthing, to make things happen… quicker. It was interesting, I just didn’t like more than 1/2 of it.
Half my group (of 10) loved it, half hated it. It’s very opinionated piece in terms of politics and characters.

Now, that's completely a fair assessment. If it wasn't your bag, nothing wrong there! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as I did, I was very moved. I do agree it could do with some trimming though...

But mostly, I just wanted to make the point that if you didn't find the teens believable, I'm afraid that's on you as it's all actual words by teens. 

Even though it's verbatim, the playwright chooses what stories she wants to tell, what slant she takes, and selects from (presumably) a huge amount of material. So I think it is still the writer's responsibility if the script is not compelling or the characters don't seem fully fleshed out, the same as with any other play. Though I don't think the characters being immature and moany is a valid criticism - a representative mix would have various levels of maturity, intelligence, self-awareness, etc. 

Personally I found it easy to get emotionally involved with some of the characters - Mia and her struggles with abusive relationships, the family whose young daughter was shot, and how it derailed the older daughter's life plan, and the insecure 'hello world' girl who was always on the outside of friendship groups. But I think it's interesting to get swill's perspective because I was relating to this as a parent and 50-something with a completely different perspective from someone who is also living life in that generation.


I thought some of the adults felt like caricatures, but I assumed that was intentional, because we're meant to see it through the eyes of the teenagers. I think that was why I liked the carrot stick incident! It's the sort of slightly odd behaviour that teenagers notice and will mention over and over, like the predictable things that teachers say at parents' evening. 

[swill]

Mar 13, 2022 18:48:55 GMT cavocado said:

Mar 13, 2022 15:11:07 GMT @somedaywhenitsme said:

Now, that's completely a fair assessment. If it wasn't your bag, nothing wrong there! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as I did, I was very moved. I do agree it could do with some trimming though...

But mostly, I just wanted to make the point that if you didn't find the teens believable, I'm afraid that's on you as it's all actual words by teens. 

Even though it's verbatim, the playwright chooses what stories she wants to tell, what slant she takes, and selects from (presumably) a huge amount of material. So I think it is still the writer's responsibility if the script is not compelling or the characters don't seem fully fleshed out, the same as with any other play. Though I don't think the characters being immature and moany is a valid criticism - a representative mix would have various levels of maturity, intelligence, self-awareness, etc. 

Personally I found it easy to get emotionally involved with some of the characters - Mia and her struggles with abusive relationships, the family whose young daughter was shot, and how it derailed the older daughter's life plan, and the insecure 'hello world' girl who was always on the outside of friendship groups. But I think it's interesting to get swill 's perspective because I was relating to this as a parent and 50-something with a completely different perspective from someone who is also living life in that generation.


I thought some of the adults felt like caricatures, but I assumed that was intentional, because we're meant to see it through the eyes of the teenagers. I think that was why I liked the carrot stick incident! It's the sort of slightly odd behaviour that teenagers notice and will mention over and over, like the predictable things that teachers say at parents' evening. 

I totally agree. It is very funny to me because I very much enjoyed the adult characters, especially the man! As a piece called ‘Our Generation’ I guess that, being someone who hasn’t yet gone through adulthood hasn’t yet seen why those characters are caricatures because they have been described by someone similar to my age in many interviews

It’s a very important piece of theatre, that didn’t relate to me and half my group, but has to many others. Which I think is the point of it!

I agree that it is the playwrights responsibility to ‘make’ it compelling (or not depending on the intention) by using the best content or characters - the most.

it’s amazing to see many different peoples opinions!

[thistimetomorrow]

I was quite apprehensive going into this having read a lot of the reviews on here, but I actually quite enjoyed it. It was definitely overly long, but I guess they kind of needed that amount of time in order to explore each of the 12 subjects in enough depth. I definitely found lots of bits very relatable to me (I'm a couple of years older than the subjects) and I thought the acting was amazing. The friend I went with said she thought it reminded her of the sort of thing she'd produce in drama school though, so take that as you will.