Pains of Youth
by Ferdinand Bruckner
in a new version by Martin Crimp
4 STARS 'A revelatory revival by Katie Mitchell.' Guardian
4 STARS 'Pains of Youth takes ugly truths and makes them into something beautiful.' The Times
Promiscuous, pitiless and bored, six sexually entangled medical students restlessly wander in and out of a boarding house, cramming, drinking, taunting, spying. Freder sets about savagely experimenting with the young, pretty maid, with half an eye on his former lover Desiree, a wild, disillusioned aristocrat. Petrell abandons Marie for the ruthless underdog Irene. Marie doesn’t waste any time weeping – Desiree wants her.
Bourgeois existence or suicide.
There are no other choices.
Vienna, 1923. A discontented post-war generation diagnose youth to be their sickness and do their best to destroy it.
World Premiere
Watch a video about the music and sounds created for Pains of Youth on the Guardian website. Composer Paul Clark, sound designer Gareth Fry and pianist Simon Allen take us deep into the soundworld of Katie Mitchell's evocative new production.
Read an article in The Times in which Katie Mitchell talks about her latest productions at the National Theatre - The Cat in the Hat and Pains of Youth.
Workshops available for schools
10, 24 November and 19 January.
Explore Katie Mitchell's unique directorial process. Suitable for KS5+. View more details.
Pains of Youth finished on: 21 January 2010
