Fragmented in the telling and gently mesmerising, Youth and Destination is a series of 60 short scenes that reflect what it is to be young and aware in the 21st century. It runs the gamut from love to loneliness, flirtation to fear – life in general, really – and it’s brilliantly performed by a diverse cast of young actors. It goes for just over an hour and the run itself is short – it finishes on May 12, so be quick!
Nikita Waldron in Youth and Destination
The set is simple and all 10 actors are on stage all the time. Each scene is briefly heralded by a sign overhead – Desire, Closing Doors, Communication, Hypocrisy, Mother Earth, Truth, and so on – and each segues beautifully into the next. Some are short and poignant, as brief as a text, while others – such as Invasion, which touches on a generalised fear of refugees ‘taking what’s ours’ and points up racism – run to the equivalent of a small paragraph. But it’s not designed as a “gritty slice of life play”, to quote the work’s writer and director James Raggatt. Instead, it’s a “multi-faceted exploration of us wading through the mess of modern society… and the dreams that make up the world that we must navigate”.
It is not surprising to learn that Youth and Destination, a Manifesto Theatre Co production, had its genesis in a poem. The dialogue is concise and aphoristic, and what is unspoken evokes imagery as well. And though it is presented as the voice of youth, the ideals, fears and basic human desires transcend generations. Hours after seeing the play, I read this in E M Forster’s Howards End, written in 1910, and, despite the gap of a mere 100 years, it resonated. “[She] realized the chaotic nature of daily life, and its difference from the orderly sequence that has been fabricated by historians. Actual life is full of false clues and signposts that lead nowhere… It is indeed unmanageable, but the essence of it is not a battle. It’s unmanageable because it’s a romance.”
I don’t mean to draw a direct parallel here, just to highlight the similarities. In its much more contemporary snapshot, Youth and Destination mirrors some of this thinking, and also threads through its own notes of romance and optimism. And does it very well.
Youth and Destination, Manifesto Theatre Co, is at KXT Kings Cross Theatre until May 12.
