FML (Fuck My Life)

Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork Preview Jun 24 8pm €10 Opens Jun 25-Jul 3 8pm €20/€15 021-4501673, everymanpalace.com

“Today, I texted my boyfriend to tell him how terrible I felt about cheating. He replied saying he was so relieved because he had been cheating on me with a girl in his dorm. I was talking about my maths exam. FML.”

For the less acronymically inclined, “fuck my life” has almost become the catchphrase of a generation.

It’s not exactly a cry of despondency, more like a softening coda to haikus of exaggerated embarrassment (many posted to the website fmylife.com). This is also the tone of a new co-production staged at this year’s Cork Midsummer Festival, somewhere between a confessional and a documentary, featuring 15 Cork teenagers who have developed the script with Belgian theatre maker Pol Heyvaert.

There has been a recent trend in stylised performances about youth which are not necessarily wasted on a young audience, such as Ontroerand Goed's ferociously inventive Once and for All... and Victoria's That Night Follows Day. FML is already destined to follow in their festival-friendly footsteps with performances destined for Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's and LIFT (both co-producers) and further beyond.

A sprightly show with a serious vein, FMLblends mixed-media methods with concerns for teen suicide, for an age-appropriate rollercoaster of emotions. You'll LOL, you'll :'(

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