SU Drama’s ‘Punk Rock’ hits home with intense, emotional performance

Six punk rockers took the stage in a whirlwind of action, leaping over tables and spray painting graffiti on the walls. Their spiky neon hair was highlighted by the sickly green light display playing off the back wall.

Then, the figures withdrew, spinning the walls of the room as they left.

The set changed to a British grammar school library with stacks of books littering the scene. A globe stood just downstage of a row of lockers framed by portrait paintings lining the stage.

These two worlds collided when production of “Punk Rock” opened at the Syracuse Stage/ SU Drama Complex on Saturday to a reactive audience. The play, put on by the Syracuse University Department of Drama, follows a group of teenagers as they prepare for their final exam, documenting the students’ growing stress to their eventual breaking points.

The show was well received and frequently punctuated by gasps, laughter and even tears from the audience.

Morgan Price, a sophomore acting major at SU, watched the final scene with her hands clasped to her mouth.

“Just wow. It was a lot,” Price said. “It was very visceral and there was definitely a lot of pain in each person.”

The play begins with the arrival of new student Lily, played by junior acting major Isabella Moore, to the private school in Stockport, England. Lily meets William, a fidgety, awkward character played by Cole Francum, a junior musical theatre major. William tiptoes around the new girl, offering advice and asking all about her life.

“I really like the moments between William and Lily,” Francum said. “There’s just something really poetic and very raw and real moments that are beautiful.”

As the play progresses, conflict builds between the students. One character constantly taunts and bullies another boy. Meanwhile, William falls for Lily, who has already started seeing someone else. And before each scene, the punk rockers make their way on stage and taunt each character as they deal with their problems.

The show’s dialogue, peppered with every four-letter word under the sun, may have proved too much for some audience members. After a screaming match between two actors, three audience members left the theatre.

“It can be a very offensive show and it’s a very offensive piece,” Francum said. “There are some things that people don’t want to acknowledge and there’s some things that the play throws in your face that you can’t ignore.”

Despite the heavy subject matter, there were many moments that had the nearly-full theater roaring with laughter. Lines such as “He tastes like crisps,” and “Are you going to ask him to impregnate you?” had the audience in stitches. Between tense, fast-paced scenes, the comedy was a much-needed relief.

Despite comedic breaks, the tension eventually mounted to a dramatic finale that had audience members plugging their ears with their fingers and some even breaking out in tears.

Moore, who played Lily, said “Punk Rock” is a story that needs to be told. After the performance, she added that opening night ran smoothly with very few hiccups.

Moore’s favorite scene is a love scene between her character and William towards the end of the show.

“We didn’t see it that way at first, but as we started to build and work on it, we started to realize that these are two people that really care about each other even though they care about each other in different ways,” Moore said.

Both Moore and Francum said the cast of the show have become close. Francum’s character experiences a downwards spiral throughout the show which leads to him losing control of his emotions.

After rehearsing this character’s emotional breakdown, Francum said it was important to separate himself from the character and switch off. These moving performances could really weigh the actors down, so it helped to have supportive people by his side.

“The cast is there for me. After every performance we all hug each other and we’re all like, ‘It’s all OK, we’re all OK, we’re all alive,” Francum said.

The violent show concludes with graphic scenes involving gun violence. Cast and audience members alike agreed the show is very relevant in modern society.

“Hopefully a show like this will spark talk of violence and how we treat each other in day-to-day life,” Price said. “This is an exaggeration — or I hope it is — but I think that things happen like this every day, little by little.”