Fireface

Overview

If your childhood even vaguely resembles mine, the slightest mention of ATYP can set off a chain of school-holiday-memory reactions and suddenly you are back in that spiral of self-doubt, resentment and, well, what I am guessing are more than a few of the themes in the upcoming ATYP Under the Wharf and Stories Like These co-production, Fireface.

Just under 20 years ago this 94-scene play (yes, you read that right) was German playwright Marius Von Mayenburg’s breakthrough, and now director Luke Rogers is taking a plunge into the adolescent with Mayenburg’s sibling protagonist duo, Kurt and Olga. Like most people blundering towards maturity, these two want to be anything but their parents and are bluffing their way through a sexual awakening. Judging by bro's reaction to his sister getting a boyfriend, we can expect a touch of Bertolucci’s The Dreamers in this one, and the leads are almost as banging. (That sounded less creepy in my head.)