The Children
Tickets from $60 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
What would you think if a former colleague, whom you haven’t seen or spoken to in nearly 40 years, suddenly drops by your home? What would you think if you, your colleague and your husband are all retired nuclear engineers – and the visit takes place shortly after a nuclear accident? What would you think if you suspect, even know, that your colleague and your husband were once romantically involved?
If this all sounds like a second-rate soap opera where I’m asking you tune in tomorrow, think again! These questions are posed in Lucy Kirkwood’s extraordinary play, “The Children,” now making its U.S premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre under the subtle and super-steady hand of director James Macdonald. With layers that unfold like an onion and a construction as solid as an Erector set, Kirkwood’s 105-minute piece may initially seem like a pungent if well-made domestic drama, a la Albee or Pinter, but the author proves to have much more than marriage on her mind.
British stage and screen veteran Francesca Annis (last seen on Broadway as Gertrude opposite then-lover Ralph Fiennes in “Hamlet”) is perfection as the visitor in question, Rose, a slightly flinty, closely guarded woman who does her best to make small talk with old pal Hazel (the wonderful Deborah Findlay, serving up the exact mixture of suspicion and amity). But we realize, quite quickly, that idle chit-chat is not Rose’s forte. Yet we also watch in wonder as she cannily avoids the question of the real purpose of her visit to this seaside cottage.
Fortunately for Rose, there’s a lot to catch up on, from the mental state of Hazel’s oldest (unseen) daughter Lauren to the physical state of the cows still supposedly residing at the farm where Hazel’s husband, Robin (Cook, delightfully roguish) goes every day. It also becomes painfully obvious, and not just to Hazel, that Rose is waiting for Robin to come home before announcing why she’s really come by.
To build the suspense, albeit slightly artificially, Kirkwood takes her sweet time introducing us to Robin. But once he arrives, we almost immediately know two things: he definitely has some sort of physical connection with Rose, and he and Hazel have long settled into the sort of iron-clad domesticity where a long-married couple openly acknowledge each other’s shortcomings yet also treasure (or at least tolerate) them. If Rose has come to break up their union, one feels she’s on a mission impossible.
In reality, though, her true mission is far more serious. In its stunning final section, “The Children” reveals itself as a deeply philosophical work, one that forces us to contemplate some difficult choices we might have to make in our own future, and one that makes us wonder if our societal norms need to be reevaluated.
Yes, “The Children” is hardly child’s play. But for thoughtful adults, it’s required viewing.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://thechildrenbroadway.com
Cast
Francesca Annis, Ron Cook, Deborah Findlay
Open/Close Dates
Opening 12/12/2017
Closing 2/4/2018
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 11/28/2017
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !