Zeitgeist-cracking play highlights unbearable pressure on ‘snowflake’ generation

Playfight at the Belgrade. Photo courtesy of the Belgrade Theatre.

Playfight by Julia Grogan, presented by Grace Dickson Productions and Theatre Uncut, from 2 – 5 April 2025 at the Belgrade Theatre B2 Venue.

Review by Annette Kinsella

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you cannot have failed to have noticed the furore surrounding the Adolescence, the recently-aired Netflix series that ignited a national debate. Set in the aftermath of a horrific attack by a schoolboy on his female schoolmate, the show examined incel culture, toxic masculinity and the relentless pressure placed on young people – males in particular – in the age of social media. But the perspective of the victim – the female voice – was notably absent.

Julia Grogan’s Playfight, currently at the Belgrade Theatre, seeks to redress this balance. In this world, the focus shifts to three teenage friends attempting to negotiate a similar hostile environment, in which all actions are viewed through an unforgiving public lens and judgement is swift and harsh. Reputations are shattered in seconds with the posting of a video with no path to redemption.

The show does not flinch from the uncomfortable realities of modern-day youth: Keira (Sophie Cox) describes requests from casual sexual partners to hit her; Lucy (Lucy Mangan) partakes in choking during sex which eventually triggers her downfall ; Zainab (Nina Cassells) is ostracised by her mother for her sexuality. Family and religion are divisive rather than supportive factors – Lucy abandons education for  marriage through a desire to please her church community, Keira struggles to support an abusive alcoholic father.  

The action is shot through with a slightly confusing rural Detectorists vibe, seemingly at odds with the gritty urban environment, as the trio gather sporadically to share their experiences at a tree in a graveyard, which they seem to bestow with mythical, folklorist magic.

Playfight by Julia Grogan. Photo courtesy of the Belgrade Theatre.

Although the story drags slightly through the middle of the play, the denouement is shocking and explosive, all the more surprising given its previous pedestrian pace. All three protagonists are granted a peace of sorts, but the underlying message indicates thousands more Generation As and millennials are drowning under pressure. Not so much snowflakes as a young generation ground down to dust under the weight of modern-day society. 

The final impression is less of a theatrical performance and more of a howling siren call to action, to galvanise a fractured society into action before more young lives are ruined.

For tickets go to:  https://www.belgrade.co.uk/events/playfight/