The Children by Lucy Kirkwood – AN ATOMIC RECKONING OF LOVE AND LEGACY
Black Swan State Theatre Company’s record-breaking season is an atomic reckoning of love and legacy. The Children, written by Lucy Kirkwood, will star three of Perth’s favourite actors running at the Heath Ledger Theatre from 24 August to 15 September 2024.
Robin (Humphrey Bower) and Hazel (Nicola Barlett), two nuclear scientists, live a quiet existence in their isolated cottage on the coast. They’ve been there ever since the disaster. Electricity is rationed and radiation fills the air, but it’s peaceful.
That is, until old friend and colleague, Rose (Caroline Brazier), arrives on their doorstep, bringing with her a past Robin and Hazel had tried to leave behind. Rose’s arrival stirs old emotions and unspoken love affairs, challenging the delicate balance of their lives. As secrets are revealed, Rose presents a frightening proposal that forces Robin and Hazel to confront both their personal responsibilities and their broader responsibilities to the world they have helped shape.
Director, Mel Cantwell, notes that the play is fundamentally about responsibility – both collective and personal.
The Children is a beautifully nuanced play that examines family, desire, friendship and morality. It’s an urgent story about the future, but deeply rooted in the here and now, with characters whose struggles and connections are universally relatable, while the play skill fully examines the legacies we leave behind: a topic that is more relevant now than ever as we enter the nuclear debate.
This award-winning play, inspired in part by the Fukushima disaster in 2011 is written by Lucy Kirkwood, described “as the most rewarding dramatist of her generation” (The Independent, UK).
Charged with intensity, The Children is an atomic drama about social responsibility, and what we leave behind for the generations that follow.
Taking place over the course of one evening, Kirkwood has written a powerful and taut three-hander brimming with wit and poignant moments making it a perfect play for our times.
A richly suggestive and beautifully written piece of work…. Kirkwood is the most rewarding dramatist of her generation.” Paul Taylor, The Independent
Grips compulsively.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
Season Details
Venue: Heath Ledger Theatre
Date : 24 Aug – 15 Sep 2024
For more information click HERE
