This Is Our Youth: Troubled kids during Reagan’s time

MANILA, Philippines - It was not the usual venue for a play: A Space_Gallery in 110 Legazpi St., Makati City. There was a big room where, no doubt, exhibits are held. It was theater in the round. The audience surrounded the three actors, and there was a minimum of props: A TV, bedspread, suitcase filled with belongings, refrigerator and a table with white powder (heroin) and chair, which fell on the shoes of a spectator. And there’s a low-tech PLDT type of telephone which gets banged in the course of the play. This was before the advent of the tablet, Twitter, Instagram and what have you.

The set approximated a small Upper West Side apartment in New York.

I arrived a few minutes later, after battling a two-hour traffic gridlock in Makati. There were two young actors in an altercation, which finally ended in a wrestling match with homosexual overtones. The two are straight, however.

Thus, This Is Our Youth begins. It is a play by Kenneth Lonergan, presented by Red Turnip and directed by Topper Fabregas. It is a kind of ménage a trois and so there are only three actors: The characters of Jef Flores and Nicco Manalo, and the young woman (played by Cindy Lopez) who intrudes into their lives.

The time is 1982, Ronald Reagan is in the White House and the actors, apparently Democrats, have only scorn for the movie star-turned-president.

This Is Our Youth was presented as an off-Broadway play in 1996 and revived last year. Its restagings have featured many actors who later became notable film stars like Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Paquin, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.

The play is billed as comedy. In fact, there are many witty and funny one-liners which sent those in the know into transports of laughter. The humor is biting, however, sardonic. But it is more than a comedy. It is a searching and emotional study of the American youth of the early ‘80s, alienated from their parents, often alienated from each other, sex-oriented and drug-addled.

And there’s a lot of profanity, of course. For the Americans, sophistication begins with the “F” word in every sentence.

Jef’s character appears to be bipolar, what with his shifting moods and hysterical outbursts. Nicco is the perfect foil, being more sensitive. Cindy, who is drawn to Nicco, is more cautious, sensible, thoughtful. “You won’t always be like this,” she tells Nicco’s character. “Ten years from now, you’ll probably be a plastic surgeon…”

These three young people are searching for something. Stability perhaps.

There are bravura performances all around, especially from Jef, whose role is the most difficult and demanding. In a shattering climatic moment, he, atoned, releases all the venom inside him and lashes out at his absent parents, his best friend (It’s a love-hate relationship), and the whole Reagan-infested society:

“You are fuc—d up. I am fuck—d up. We are all fuc—d up.”

Then silence descends. Strangely, I am reminded of the ending of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? wherein the battling couple (played by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the film version), after verbal fireworks, achieve a kind of peace.

This Is Our Youth has a limited run at A_Space Gallery on Nov. 20 to 22. Call 891-9999.

With its sixth and latest offering, Red Turnip Theater ([email protected]) continues on its brave course to produce bold and provocative straight plays for a small, but select and loyal audience.