It's called Punk Rock, but it's not a play about punk rock. Although music from the era of rebellion provides the aural portrayal of teen angst, it's been argued the title is merely a decoy for the shattering tale of a group of British students struggling through their final year of high school and bracing for the next phase of life.
The work of celebrated UK playwright, Simon Stephens, Punk Rock's New Zealand debut promises anyone whose entry into adulthood whispers, to have it brought ringing back to their ears.
Premiered by the Outfit Theatre Company, the play has been described as The History Boys meets Catcher in the Rye with its byzantine depiction of students under pressure from their parents, their peers and their own ambitions as they prepare for their mock exams at an elite private school in England.
Nathan Mudge, 20, plays the lead role of William Carlisle, a charming, intelligent and ultimately violent character whose discontent with his boring bourgeois existence leads him to commit an unthinkable deed in the play's final act.
"He's a bit all over the place, he's very complex," says Grey Lynn resident Mudge, who recently finished work on The Motor Camp with the Auckland Theatre Company. "It's not often you get to play a 17-year-old who's as complex as William. You're watching how each character responds to pressure. It's so nice to be in a play that's so real."
