THE writer of a production touring Scotland hopes his new show gives “more of a voice to a generation frequently dismissed”.
Thick skin, elastic heart mixes poetry and theatre to explore hot-button issues affecting millennials such as race, sexuality, addiction, mental ill-health and always being short on cash.
Writer Drew Taylor says the show, which producers Sonnet Youth describe as “Under Milk Wood filtered through the lens of Instagram”, aims to be a forum for those born between the early 1980s to the mid-1990s.
With the exception of the likes of prominent UK psychologist Jeffrey Arnett, who describes them as “an exceptionally generous generation that holds great promise for improving the world”, millennials are popularly characterised as over-sensitive narcissists who couldn’t change plug.
Such misconceptions have not gone unnoticed by young people, says Taylor, a multi-skilled practitioner who graduated from the Royal Conservatoire in 2006.
Initially a performance poet, he subsequently moved into directing, notably as artistic director of Performance Collective Stranraer.
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“I do a lot of work in arts education, with young artists, young people,” says Taylor. “You can see how an older generation’s responses to them affects them hugely. The show begins with a number called Snowflake. They stand very proudly on stage and say how yes, they are drinking your Prosecco and eating your avocados on toast.”
The show sees Cameron Fulton, Danielle Jam, Robert Elkin and Charlotte Driessler perform monologues and group poems, including Dissection Of A Night Out In Seven Movements which follows four people on separate evenings across the UK.
Thirty separate pieces collide and run into one another across the show, like posts in a social media feed.
“Though there isn’t a narrative thread, there are connections about how increased technology has affected how we communicate with each other and the increased levels of mental health difficulties,” says Taylor. “On the flipside of all of that is how the show has us searching for hope in what feels like a really troubled time. That was vital.”
Each performance of thick skin, elastic heart will be preceded by a support set from a local spoken word artist.
Taylor says people of all ages will see themselves reflected in the script, a mix of poetry and character-driven dialogue which he has developed over the past decade.
“I feel strongly that our theatres need to be showcasing more poetry,” he says. “And you don’t need to have any particular passion for it, because when it’s done really well, you don’t notice it’s poetry.”
Tonight, Theatre Royal Dumfries; Oct 21, Dundee Rep; Oct 24, Dunoon Burgh Hall; Oct 25 & 26, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; November 1, Cumbernauld Theatre; Nov 2, Ardfern; Nov 7, Wigtown Print Room; Nov 8, Hawick; Nov 9, Annan. More Scottish dates follow in 2020. drewmakestheatre.com/thick-skin-elastic-heart
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