Captain Theatre
Pains of Youth
Captain Theatre is a London/Durham-based company which aims to give opportunity to new practitioners in any area of theatrical production who show flair and passion for their work in experimental theatre. Following last year's sell-out production of Antigone, Pains of Youth marks Captain Theatre's return to the Edinburgh Fringe
The kind of play written once a generation. Bruckner's rarely performed exploration into carnal experimentation is revived by this 5* company. With Austrian decadence obliterated by war, seven students find themselves trapped in a society of unbearable seclusion. As their relationships close in around them, violent sexuality becomes youth's only weapon against fatal isolation.
Performances:
14th to 19th August
Price:
£5.00 (£4.50) (previews 14th & 15th August - £4) »
Everyone should shoot themselves at seventeen
“Everyone should shoot themselves at seventeen – after that all is disappointment”.
With characteristic daring and emotional intensity Captain Theatre returns to the Fringe with a revival of a rarely-performed Bruckner play, following last year’s sell out production of Antigone.
Pains of Youth is an uncomfortable play, with its exploration of emotional need and despair; its fascination with the tenor and attraction of death; its concern to show how physical and sexual sensation may be pushed to the limit in the search for existential authenticity.
Do not go to see this play with your parents – nor your offspring! In this dark study of sexuality and power, seven students fight to find significance in life and relationships. Well-paced and visually attractive, the play features consistently compelling performances from the young cast.
The negative messages of the play present a challenge. The female characters, despite the fact that they are qualifying to be doctors at a time when such opportunities were severely limited, are relentlessly presented in their sexual aspect – the bitch, the doormat, the polluted virgin. Men are hapless or manipulative. It is all stylishly done, and you come out feeling cast down, but emotionally and intellectually stirred.
The play is not entirely successful in its effort to strip human nature down to its basics (at times you feel like knocking the characters’ heads together) but the attempt is interesting, and this performance is impressive in its boldness and conviction.
Heather Lister