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This Is Our Youth, a seminal play by Kenneth Lonergan, was written in the 90s and is set firmly in the 80s. So what is doing the play like, 20 years later? Renee Liang talks to cast member Ryan Dulieu to find out.

What drew you to acting?

School was a very Dead Poet’s Society experience, which allowed me to realise acting was a calling, more than just something I wanted to do. I’m drawn to the magic there is between actors in a scene, or an actor and the audience, it’s that connection I’m always striving for and I think acting’s the best place to find it.
 
What is the best training you've done as an actor?

That would have to be The Actors’ Program; the year-long industry course with a long list of some of the best practitioners in stage and screen which definitely helped shape where I am now and how I respond to and absorb further experiences.
 
You've done a lot of kid's theatre as well. Is it much different to acting for grown-up theatre?
 
Not as different as people probably think. It’s heightened, sure, but kids aren’t stupid. They’re incredibly perceptive and if they think you’re lying they’ll call you on it. So really it has to be just as committed and truthful as anything else you do. It keeps you honest and works you pretty hard physically and vocally, but I love doing kid’s theatre, I think it’s hugely rewarding.

Tell us about your worst 'uh-oh' moment on stage.

Opening night of Mancub at the Basement in 2012, I had to slam a fridge door but a beer bottle got caught and smashed all over the stage. Neither myself nor the two other actors had any time offstage or blackouts for scene changes, so we had to keep going.  Only later did we realise we were all covered in blood from rolling around the stage (the play had us transforming into animals). But I couldn't tell who was injured or how badly until after the show, so that had its ‘uh-oh’ moments.
 
Tell us about your character in This is Our Youth.

Warren Straub is a 19-year-old who’s flailing in the doldrums post-high school, occupied mostly by getting high with his drug-dealing friend Dennis. He’s described as a ‘barking-dog of a kid’ and lives in the shadow of Dennis a lot, completely well-intentioned but possessing a social awkwardness that often results in him appearing as one kind of f**k-up or another. Warren’s the only character who’s in a state of transition in the play, and through the process of some heartbreaking moments is given the opportunity to actually grow up.
 
Have you drawn on past (mis)experiences to create the role?

I guess your own mis-experiences definitely feed-in to colour some parts of the character. I’m not into drawing on specific memories of my own, but in creating the character you definitely relate to some of the things that have happened to him and I think in the same way I bring a part of myself to every character, I also find every new character opens up an awareness to new parts of myself. So it’s like a beautiful exchange where you and the character are discovering each other at the same time.
 
Tell us about the rehearsal process.
 
It’s been brilliantly full on, having such a rich text to sink your teeth into is the most wonderful thing, it’s so well made the writing carries itself. We struck gold with the team we’ve managed to pull together; this will be my third show with Ben Henson.  I’d done a lot of scene work with Alex MacDonald previously, and I’ve known Alex Jordan since I was 13, so it’s a great familiar dynamic on the floor. It’s also been great having our designer Christine Urquhart in the room, who’s been feeding into the creative process a lot and has a shared language with Ben so that’s helped shaped the evolution of things.

What are you doing next?

At the moment there’s a couple projects under consideration but nothing set in stone. I’m definitely looking at putting on some more work later in the year, a bit of podcasting I had lined up and hopefully doing some writing of my own too. Making sure I keep busy, that’s for sure.