Take eleven young local actors, put them to work with one of New Zealand’s most innovative award-winning theatre-makers and her inspired creation; give them some time together and finally here we are on the Rhododendron Lawn for the first Hamilton cast performance of Jo Randerson’s Yo Future.  

Yo Future is based on responses to a series of state-of-the-world questions posed to members of the millennial generation (those born after 1984). The piece was originally commissioned by Long Cloud Youth Theatre and presented by Whitireia New Zealand back in 2011.

Not far into the show I realise that what I will most likely take from this piece will be vastly different to that which another person will take.  

Immediately the laughter gets flowing as we watch the opening clowning sequence. I see these are the Club Kids, they spin and weave and smile on as we meet the Poseurs, complete with shopping bags and smart phones, throwing their catwalk swagger around with self-assurance. The pavement pounding Conservationists are next. Laughs of recognition and it feels to me like we have all done our best to avoid these folk on the streets of Hamilton. Then come The Hoody Kids. Tough and menacing they drive all the others from the stage which raises a giggle from me as I reflect on visiting Nawton Mall on a Friday night where this is an all-too-familiar scene.

The immediate question I see addressed, is: “Where do we all fit in this society?” I watch the Hoody Kids transformed by the strumming of a classical guitar. I wonder whether as an older person what I see forms too much of an opinion over what is. For once the surface is skimmed some young thug in socks and jandals just wants to perform interpretive dance.  

No time to dwell on this as a mad scientist and his lovely assistant arrive with what looks not unlike a shiny metal replica of the mythical Trojan Horse. After much inquisitive bemusement from our players (favourite line of the night for me is: “The woman always knows”) out pops a white-shoed illusionist evangelising the healing of the world.

How quickly this young group is united by this evangelising, even more so after the arrival of a man preaching that the end is nigh. Cancer, obesity, rising sea levels and depression are prophesised. He is shunned for this which seems to further unite the mob.

Irony is thick as the young mob is seduced by various treats offered up from the metal horse. Again I start thinking, this time about how much of what is happening in our world is self-actualised. Our modern prophets come from science, from technology… are our young without faith in a higher realm? Perhaps (scarily) they do have the insight and thus the answers. Should we the older generation be paying closer heed? 

As a single woman aged forty, Yo Future serves as a starting point for much reflection and further discussion. My companion for the night is honestly spellbound, after the show she and I spend plenty of time dissecting our differing interpretation of the work. I can’t help but think that these young people have made fresh progress in discussing what has always dogged the collective consciousness of the human race: extinction. Is it that everybody knows, but not all of us are enlightened enough to know so? Are we killing ourselves in pursuit of the most human of plight, which is simply to get by? 

My only grumble is nothing to do with the show, but the festival’s organisation of the timetable. The show is a little overshadowed by the spilling of sound from a Broadway on the Boardwalk performance (show tunes do little to set the scene and the young players do well to maintain their exceptional level of focus in delivery). 

Yo Future is classic Randerson: it is funny, it is angering and it is most definitely original. I am impressed by the ensemble of young talents, who I am excited to watch grow through Hamilton theatre and beyond. A piece of theatre like this could easily be written off as lofty and may have ended up bewildering rather than enlightening the audience, were it not so tightly and passionately played.

This is a chance to see what the future thinks about the future, and encourage theatre goers of all ages to see this exceptional example of new world work.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

Take eleven young local actors, put them to work with one of New Zealand’s most innovative award-winning theatre-makers and her inspired creation; give them some time together and finally here we are on the Rhododendron Lawn for the first Hamilton cast performance of Jo Randerson’s Yo Future.  

Yo Future is based on responses to a series of state-of-the-world questions posed to members of the millennial generation (those born after 1984). The piece was originally commissioned by Long Cloud Youth Theatre and presented by Whitireia New Zealand back in 2011.

Not far into the show I realise that what I will most likely take from this piece will be vastly different to that which another person will take.  

Immediately the laughter gets flowing as we watch the opening clowning sequence. I see these are the Club Kids, they spin and weave and smile on as we meet the Poseurs, complete with shopping bags and smart phones, throwing their catwalk swagger around with self-assurance. The pavement pounding Conservationists are next. Laughs of recognition and it feels to me like we have all done our best to avoid these folk on the streets of Hamilton. Then come The Hoody Kids. Tough and menacing they drive all the others from the stage which raises a giggle from me as I reflect on visiting Nawton Mall on a Friday night where this is an all-too-familiar scene.

The immediate question I see addressed, is: “Where do we all fit in this society?” I watch the Hoody Kids transformed by the strumming of a classical guitar. I wonder whether as an older person what I see forms too much of an opinion over what is. For once the surface is skimmed some young thug in socks and jandals just wants to perform interpretive dance.  

No time to dwell on this as a mad scientist and his lovely assistant arrive with what looks not unlike a shiny metal replica of the mythical Trojan Horse. After much inquisitive bemusement from our players (favourite line of the night for me is: “The woman always knows”) out pops a white-shoed illusionist evangelising the healing of the world.

How quickly this young group is united by this evangelising, even more so after the arrival of a man preaching that the end is nigh. Cancer, obesity, rising sea levels and depression are prophesised. He is shunned for this which seems to further unite the mob.

Irony is thick as the young mob is seduced by various treats offered up from the metal horse. Again I start thinking, this time about how much of what is happening in our world is self-actualised. Our modern prophets come from science, from technology… are our young without faith in a higher realm? Perhaps (scarily) they do have the insight and thus the answers. Should we the older generation be paying closer heed? 

As a single woman aged forty, Yo Future serves as a starting point for much reflection and further discussion. My companion for the night is honestly spellbound, after the show she and I spend plenty of time dissecting our differing interpretation of the work. I can’t help but think that these young people have made fresh progress in discussing what has always dogged the collective consciousness of the human race: extinction. Is it that everybody knows, but not all of us are enlightened enough to know so? Are we killing ourselves in pursuit of the most human of plight, which is simply to get by? 

My only grumble is nothing to do with the show, but the festival’s organisation of the timetable. The show is a little overshadowed by the spilling of sound from a Broadway on the Boardwalk performance (show tunes do little to set the scene and the young players do well to maintain their exceptional level of focus in delivery). 

Yo Future is classic Randerson: it is funny, it is angering and it is most definitely original. I am impressed by the ensemble of young talents, who I am excited to watch grow through Hamilton theatre and beyond. A piece of theatre like this could easily be written off as lofty and may have ended up bewildering rather than enlightening the audience, were it not so tightly and passionately played.

This is a chance to see what the future thinks about the future, and encourage theatre goers of all ages to see this exceptional example of new world work.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer