Generations (Young Vic March 2007)

When you walk into the room, you are greeted by an effusive sound from a 14 strong South African choir led by the award winning artist, Pauline Malefane. The choir members gladly show you to your seat and instantly, you become part of the play. The chairs for seating are not your average theatre seats either. Rather, they are plastic crates for mineral drinks put on top each other to ensure the right height for those sitting on them. The audience is fully entertained before the show begins with tempestuous hand clapping, singing and the voices take you to South Africa. The shrilling of voices soon stops and you are taken on a journey to experience the pain deeply rooted in the hearts of its people; the ravaging effects of the Aids virus claiming a whole generations.

Generations, a new play by Debbie Tucker Green focuses on three generations of a South African Family and their sad struggle with the force of death greater than them. What do you when you loose your teenage granddaughters and your daughter to a disease that has ravaged your country? Though there is no mention of the words Aids or HIV in the 30 minutes this play runs. The poetic, evocative and solemn nature of loosing those you love to a force you have no control over makes you think about generations being lost to the disease.

The stage is set to reveal a cooking dynasty, who love to cook and eat together and in their history, cooking has been the way the men got to the women’s hearts. The gas cooker, fridge and washing sink are all in the middle and you can see the flame as it engulfs the air when the pots are opened.

The words are poetical and in a sense lyrical, “The talent to touch a little of sweetness” and “I was the cooker – you was the cookless – I was the cooker who coached the cookless. I coached you to cook – “all add an element of life and sweetness to Generations.

While it succeeds in asking questions and answering none about what is happening to our generations, you do feel the story could have been developed more to show more of the devastating effects of the silent killer known as HIV.

Image: Tristram Kenton