Kenneth Lonergan's play, This Is Our Youth is to have a short run at the Garrick Theatre, from March 1 to April 20.

Starring Hayden Christensen, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin and directed by Laurence Boswell, This Is Our Youth follows a weekend in the life of three privileged but wayward youngsters from New York's Upper West Side, who go on a spending binge with stolen money.

A tragi-comedy about young people's reaction to an increasingly materialistic society (the play is set in 1982 at the height of Reagan's America), This Is Our Youth was written in 1996 and nominated for a Drama Desk Best Play Award.

Lonergan's play Lobby Hero is to feature in the forthcoming season of new American writing at the Donmar, so his work will soon become familiar to London audiences.

This Is Our Youth will appeal to younger audiences, not least because the cast is made up of attractive young Hollywood stars. In that respect it is reminiscent of Madame Melville, the coming-of age story seen a year ago at the Vaudeville, with Macaulay Culkin playing a young American discovering life, sex and art in Paris.

Hayden Christensen plays Anakin Skywalker in the new "Star Wars" trilogy and he recently received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the film "Life as a House" with Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Jake Gyllenhaal is also best known as a film actor, and has appeared in "October Sky" and "The Bubble Boy." He stars opposite Jennifer Aniston in the forthcoming "The Good Girl" and will appear with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon in "Goodbye Hello."

Anna Paquin who plays Rogue in "X-Men," won an Oscar for her performance in the 1993 film, "The Piano," and recently made her New York stage debut in Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living .

The play is designed by Jeremy Herbert, with lighting design by Adam Silverman.

For further information call the Box Office on 020 7494 5085.

— by Theatrenow