Review by: Paul Towers, 24/3/16
Green Day’s American Idiot
Curve, 19 – 27 March 2016
“an anthem-ic punk rock tirade.”
I had never heard of Green Day before I saw this show and,
if I am honest, they would never have been on my musical radar. But one of the
joys of reviewing theatre is that I get see a wide range of genres, most of
which I would never have thought of embracing.
In my innocence I settled into my seat in Curve’s studio
space and waited to see what joys, or otherwise, this show would bring. I had briefly looked up the group on Youtube
and was ready to feel way too old for these ‘youthful rhythms’. But I was jolted out of my indolence by a couple
of hours of high energy singing, dancing and instrument playing by a hugely talented
cast.
The set was that of urban decay; dirty exposed pipes, cage
walls and improvised ladders. As the curtain rose we were greeted with an
anthem-ic punk rock tirade depicting the anarchic behaviour of disaffected 21st
century youth in America. Catapulted off the back of 9/11 and the Middle East
war American youth’s expectations were at rock bottom.
If the truth be told they are just symbolic of many youngsters
in the western world at the time. Drugs, promiscuity and a disregard for
authority lead our three protagonists spiralling down into their own different
versions of hell. They start off as silly little boys but, as reality kicks in,
they realise that everything has a price and no-one in their world lives
happily ever after.
This is the eternal story of alienated youth set to a punk rock beat. Only these
youths take the left hand path and end up as a junkie, a military amputee and a
single father, their lives ruined forever.
Green Day wrote American Idiot as a concept album, a rock
opera in the vein of The Who’s Tommy, way back in 2004 as a response to 9/11
and the ensuing madness in Iraq. The theatre director Michael Mayer approached them
with the idea of making it a real opera, a theatrical experience. It took 5
years for the rewriting and staging to gel into an initial off-Broadway
try-out. Since then it has toured internationally and is all over the UK until
July this year. Catch it if you can.
American Idiot is at Curve until Saturday 27 March .
First published in Western Gazette
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