KIDS

“All of this makes this work a small masterpiece of skill (...) A production that confirms Nikitin is one of the most interesting theater directors of our time.”

“The Kids give voice to a text that grows more complex and elaborate with every passing minute. They recite Nikitin’s philosophical manifesto with precise, confident voices. They share his rejection of reality and his rebellion against it: this is the work’s fundamental core, its vital force. “I am not a machine!” they shout.”

“A glimpse into a different side of Johannesburg, particularly its nightlife, while highlighting the energy and stories that exist within the city after dark. KIDS is a production I would happily experience again.”

“Born in the early 2000s, the young people experience their reality amid tensions and propaganda, and each of them recounts fragments of life—memories and feelings, thoughts on life, death, homosexuality, love, absence, and loneliness. These are themes dear to Nikitin, ranging from the most intimate and controversial to those that resonate with his emotional world. Two and a half hours of film that surprisingly fly by.”

“As if this closeness were a sign of authenticity—it isn’t. The stories of fleeing to the big city, of coming out, of mental illness, and of manipulative relationships may or may not have actually happened to them. Nikitin’s text doesn’t merely reflect on what is real and what is fictional; it also draws on literary and cultural studies models from the modern era that reflect how people fared when they first lived in big cities and reacted to so much closeness, stimulation, and confinement with tics, soliloquies, and detachment. They, too, are part of this collective voice.”