It is a truth rarely acknowledged that regardless of age, you will never really know what the heck goes on inside your brain. Sure, as a teenager this question may seem more pertinent, considering the vast amount of changes you go through in a short burst of time, but really, your brain will always feel like an unsolved Rubik’s cube.

Pre-show, Islington Community Company’s young theatre company ask you to give some advice to your teenage self – to tell yourself something that you didn’t know during your teens and to write this down on a slip of yellow paper that you hand over. Suddenly the audience is made to revisit their younger selves.

“You don’t know that…”

The audience enter the calm, square theatre with an ordered set and neat rows of benched seating. They sit down, having unburdened themselves on a bright yellow report card-style paper, which they then discard into a pool of other confessions.

Brainstorm is a piece of theatre that will tie a thread between you and that yellow card – between yourself and your teenage self. It’s a chance to acknowledge how much you didn’t know when you were in your teens, how much you still don’t know and, sadly, probably will never know.

Soon enough, the stage is trembling with activity as the teenage company members take to the stage one after the other. Suddenly, the serene set is cluttered with teenagers fixated on their mobile devices. The members of the theatre company are introduced by Gracia: a bold, confident teen who is the eldest in the group, she introduces her co-stars with loveable anecdotes, which quickly endear us to her gang.

It’s not all friendly fun and games though; there are moments scattered through Brainstorm that brazenly confront prejudices we may have about age or race.

Gracia asks us:

“Do you like us?”

“Who would you sit next to on a bus?”

An incredible sequence occurs during the later end of the show where the group take part in a survey that is projected against the wall, with desk lamps illuminating their answers. Beginning with generic questions about what they want to be when they grow up, the survey climaxes with more serious queries:

“Would you change the colour of your skin?”

“Do you think you’re clever?”

Though their answers remain anonymous, it’s an incredibly brave gesture where they reveal their most personal thoughts. Vulnerability is a key aspect to the young companies piece. In one part, the teens have Bob Dylan-style signs that they raffle off to an emotive song, from which we gather they are speaking to a parent, shedding their protective layers and laying themselves bare, raw and honest. The group itself is hugely eclectic and feels like an earnest representation of London teenagers.

Brainstorm is a fantastic piece of community theatre that attempts to understand the connections formed inside a person’s brain, specifically in the brains of young adults. Connections with the audience are also attempted, as the band of youths interact with the audience in a playful gesture of togetherness:

“We’re not so different, you and I.”

It’s a powerful olive branch in which a group of teenagers invite us into the deepest pockets of their minds, and their mobiles. The gang have a Whatsapp group, which is projected at intervals during the show, illuminating a conversation happening aside from the physical performance. The inclusion of technology in the show is smart: it feels like an essential way for the audience to understand the teenagers, as technology is an inherent part of their lives.

Brainstorm has the ability to transcend generational barriers. Whilst truly celebrating what it means to be young in today’s social climate, it asks the audience to see individuals, regardless of their age.

Brainstorm is playing at the Temporary Theatre, National Theatre until 25 July. For tickets and more information see the National Theatre website. Photo: National Theatre.