This Is Our [Dirty] Youth

by S. James Wegg

View
April 15 - 21, 2010

The theatrical centrepiece of In the Soil: "Niagara's Homegrown Arts Festival," is at this weekend's "3 Plays 3 Days," on stage Friday through Sunday at the Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre. For the same inexpensive admission. This aptly encapsulated "The Crop Rotation" includes Graffiti...What a Waste, three brief plays from Stray Theatre and Present Company Inc(luded)'s production of This Is our Youth.

The latter, written in 1996 by Kenneth Longergan, has had a storied history where such actors as Woody Harrelson, Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal have starred in the edgy drama of abuse (substance and familial), dashed hopes and much despair.

Always eager to get the real dirt behind the sorry, View dropped into a final rehearsal just before tomorrow's local première.

As we chatted with the cast and director on the aging wooden porch prior to viewing a sample scene, the overall rationale behind the festival blossomed like early daffodils.

Actors Graham Shaw (playing Warren, a pot devotee in search of acceptance), Aaron Berger (Dennis is the neighbourhood drug dealer whose constant toughness masks a fractured inner soul) and Heather Lowe (as Jessica-the most centred of the struggling trio of friends) as well as director/designer Kahlin Holmes are all native to the peninsula.

The aspiring thespians have lived, loved, played, partied, studied and worked through their own career and private challenges right in our own backyard.

Who better, then, to bring the playwright's gritty text to life and share its powerful messages and moments with fellow Niagara residents of all ages and backgrounds.

"We've contemporized it from the ‘80s," explained Holmes. "The musical cues [such as Frank Zappa] have been updated as we explore the hipster culture of today. It runs a little long [to accommodate the other presentations] so we've had to trim it down to 90 minutes. It's been a challenge to make the cuts, yet still keep the tension."

For Shaw, the biggest attraction to this work is the language. "The whole ease of the dialogue-it's so realistic, Longergan's so good at this natural voice, but it's not easy to reproduce. The frequent pauses and very direct lines [rhymes with "runt"] are not for the shy," he said.

"I liked this play a lot for its musicality, the rhythms and how they just come off the page," offered Berger, munching on a pre-rehearsal snack. "It's all about the struggle for young people to connect. The characters only manage to relate to each other when stoned; they have sex when they're drunk. Everyone's afraid to show their real selves. Jessica's persona is the closest to any one of them having a clear vision of what they will do in the future, but with a few lines like ‘What the fuck was that?,' she demonstrates her defensive vulnerability, even as she appears to be the ‘straightest' of us all. Still, if you wanted to have a few puffs [...insert favourite substance] before seeing the show, it couldn't hurt your appreciation of it."

What you might not realize until your post-performance reflection, is that Longergan has the all-too-rare skill of being able to make his points without preaching or "hitting you over the head."

Like the home-grown players involved and the material itself, the more you dig into the ideas, emotions and bare truths presented, the greater your personal yield.

THIS IS OUR YOUTH
"The Crop Rotation" part of the
In The Soil: Niagara's Homegrown Arts Festival.
Friday April 16 - Sunday April 18 @ the Sullivan-Mahoney Courthouse Theatre.
101 King St. St. Catharines.
inthesoil.on.ca