sardonicism

An Irish millennial’s first novel, “Exciting Times,” pins the touchstone generational tension between sardonicism and sincerity.

In fewer than 250 pages, the 28-year-old has captured the touchstone millennial tension between sardonicism and sincerity — the electric ambivalence of figuring out how to be a person in these times.

But neither her script nor Yew’s production — which features period-defining costumes by Linda Cho and lighting by David Weiner — can comfortably reconcile the radical shifts in style and mood, between the bright sardonicism of Duch’s speeches to the audience and the furrowed-brow sincerity of the father-daughter scenes.

Cleese’s habitual sardonicism notwithstanding, it’s a gentle sort of farce, tenderly played and set mostly to the speed at which the elder cast members perambulate.

Its overarching tone is calibrated sardonicism, an approach that is most evident in the serene, once-upon-a-time narration from an offscreen Willem Dafoe.