Our Generation in Chichester - the stories of our young people

Created from five years of interviews with 12 young people from all four corners of the UK, Our Generation promises a captivating portrait of their teenage years as they journey into adulthood.

It comes to Chichester after a run at the National.

Stephanie Street, who plays a wide range of adults in the piece, is hoping the company will be able to put their London Covid problems behind them.

“London was amazing in terms of the reaction and just how the play landed and how the audiences have responded to it. It has been really extraordinary but we had a lot of Covid in the cast and it was quite challenging actually just to get through. The theatre had to close over Christmas because of Covid and so we had to resort rehearse over Zoom and then we had two delayed press nights because of Covid in London and during our previews for the first ten shows we didn’t have the full company. We had to use stand-ins.

“But the response has been lovely. A friend of mine came to see it last night and said it’s a play that delves deeper into the experience of adolescence and the journey into adulthood than any play that has been done before. The breadth of the experience is astonishing but my friend said that the really striking thing was it was about human beings. It is a play about life. It is a play about love. It is a play about the absence of love.

“When I joined the company I was inconsolably emotional about the play. It made me think about my own children and what might lie ahead in the future for them. It made me think about my own childhood and it made me think about my parents. And it made me want to forgive my younger self. Young women give themselves a hard time about how they look and are always seeking approval from people. They put themselves under a lot of pressure and there are also all the heartaches that they go through. And now there is a lot of surveillance all the time by each other and by their peers through things like Snapchat and all the apps that are part of everyday life. But it can be too easy to judge. For a lot of young people during the lockdowns when they were so isolated, all these apps and all these sorts of things were lifesavers. It is not all horrendous but it does still certainly add to the awful persistent strain that young people are under these days. But the great thing is that they show extraordinary resilience.

“In the main the young people in the show are being played by drama school leavers who came out into an empty industry. Some of them have been working for a bit longer but they are mostly young people in early 20s and they have to play a big range. They have to play from 12 to 20. The play spans five years but they are different ages at the start when we meet them. And they are incredible. They are astonishing. They each have to play their primary character but they all step in to play other people’s friends and other people around them.”

In addition to the 12 young people in the cast there are three adults, of which Stephanie is one: “We share between us the roles of their parents and their teachers and the older people in their lives. By and large the mothers are more pleasant than the fathers though one of the young boys does have an incredible relationship with his father. But it’s very interesting and it certainly makes you think about your own children. Mine are a long way away from adolescence. They are five and nine but it has made me reflect a lot on what it means to give children unconditional love and what it must be like not to have that.”

Have you read: Grace: why tonight's episode confirmed Brighton-based detective series as essential viewing

Have you read: Downton Abbey - those all important Sussex connections

Have you read: Grace: why Roy Grace creator Peter James is so delighted with John Simm’s portrayal of his Brighton-based detective

Have you read: Petworth Festival: This is when it is being held, here are the names of those appearing, and this is how to obtain tickets

Have you read: Hastings panto announced

Have you read: Exploring the great joys of the South Downs Way

Have you read: So many reasons to celebrate as Chichester's Pallant House Gallery marks 40 yearsHave you read: Search begins for 2022 Sussex Young Musician

Have you read: The Art of Chichester: 60 Years of Creativity - major new exhibition

Have you read: Everything you need to know: Chichester Festival Theatre summer 2022

A book about loss and hope

A remarkable tale of recovery from a rare form of cancer

New book inspired by days out with the family