Punk Rock – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse
The highly successful Altrincham Garrick Studio season of productions centred around a Manchester theme concludes this week with a timely revival of Simon Stephens’ 2009 classroom drama Punk Rock. Under the direction of Meg Brassington, it demonstrates that the teenage concerns of more than a decade ago are, if anything, even more pertinent and relevant today.
We meet our seven protagonists at a sixth-form college in Stockport. The action takes place during the autumn term of 2009 as they negotiate the pressures of forthcoming mock A-level examinations. However, any similarity to The History Boys and the cosy world of Alan Bennett nostalgia is quickly dispelled by the very different tone Stephens employs in his portrayal of tortured adolescence and teenage angst.
In the hands of a le...