DIRECTOR of Canberra Youth Theatre,  Karla Conway, aims to defy  conservative notions of what “youth theatre” is all about.

To that end, inspired by Britian’s “In-Yer-Face” theatre movement, she is staging the late Sarah Kane’s play “4:48 Psychosis” in  the Canberra Theatre Centre’s Courtyard Studio.

And it’s not for kids. As Conway says, “People forget that half of CYT’s company are in their twenties. These are not ‘youth’. They are wild, vibrant, sophisticated artists, who make work that challenges audiences to reconsider the patronising view that all CYT work is just for little kids.”

Described as  “vulgar, shocking and confrontational,” the play is intended to  affect its audiences “viscerally, ” to shake them and wake them back up to the power of the live stage.

In  “4:48 Psychosis,” Kane depicts  a psychotic mind in the midst of a battle between survival and self-destruction. “Spiked with gallows humour, stripped of character and action, this cast of actors put an impressive stamp on the most challenging of Kane’s sensationally short repertoire.”

As Conway sees it,  “CYT is certainly proving that it is no cutesy drama school, but a serious theatre company out to smack you In-Yer Face and wake audiences up to the dawning of a new era in ‘youth theatre’”

“4:48 Psychosis” at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, 7.30pm, Nov 15-21, 1pm Friday, Nov 16 and 5pm Nov 18. Bookings to www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au