My Generation

West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

4 Stars

Described by Alice Nutter as an "anarchist version of Our Friends In The North," the former Chumbawamba member's new play has an authenticity that comes from first-hand knowledge.

Broadcast on Radio 3 last year, My Generation was picked up by West Yorkshire Playhouse's new artistic director James Brining and adapted for the stage in the city where the action is set.

It's an inspired move because while the drama is clearly founded in Leeds, it reflects stories with social relevance nationwide.

The play's narrative, in which two generations of one family try to live their lives a little bit differently, is a journey through the last four decades.

It begins in 1977 with Cath Wilson (Kaye Wragg), living in a squat and trying to escape domestic drudgery through radical feminism. It concludes in the present with her socially aspirant daughter Emma (Helen Bradbury) trying hard to come to terms with Cash Converters.

These two acts book-end the politics of the 1984 miners' strike - recounted by Cath's husband Mick (Craig Conway) - and the erosion of free rave culture's idealism, hilariously acted out by their aimless son Ben (Craig Gazey).

In between it touches on the fear that gripped communities during the Yorkshire Ripper's reign, all-women communes and the empty consumerism of store loyalty cards.

Each of these time periods is punctuated by music from a live three-piece band, headed by Nutter's former band mate Harry Hamer.

He also plays the sexist compere at a Coal Not Dole fundraiser and his performance, along with Wragg's, is pivotal in setting the tone of the play, from the opening blast of Patti Smith's Gloria as Cath cleans a toilet to the sinister bass line of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal as a row of policemen menacingly forms at a picket line.

A logical extension of Nutter's social and political work with Chumbawamba, My Generation avoids being overly worthy thanks to a healthy injection of well-observed, moving dialogue and humour.

Runs until October 26. Box office: (0113) 213-7800.