Direct from an acclaimed run in London, the powerful Royal Court Theatre production of Lucy Kirkwood's astonishing new play will make its American debut at MTC with the heralded original cast. In a remote cottage on the lonely British coast, a couple of retired nuclear engineers are living a very quiet life. Outside, the world is in utter chaos following a devastating series of events. When an old friend turns up at their door, they're shocked to discover the real reason for her visit. The Mail on Sunday calls The Children "beautifully written and superbly acted." Hailed by The Independent as "the most rewarding dramatist of her generation," playwright Lucy Kirkwoodmakes her highly anticipated New York debut. Directing is the award-winning James MacDonald (TOP GIRLS at MTC).
The Children will star the original Royal Court Theatre cast BAFTA Award winner Francesca Annis (BBC's "Cranford"), Olivier Award nominee Ron Cook (Juno and the Paycock at The Donmar), and Olivier Award winner Deborah Findlay (RSC's Stanley).
The creative team for The Children will feature Miriam Buether (scenic and costume design), Peter Mumford (lighting design), and Max Pappenheim (sound design)
The Children may take place within an apocalyptic landscape, but you'd barely know it. Within the confines of its remote, modest cottage home is a whole world of personalities, ideas, humor, and conflict. Virtually anything could be going on outside, an idea rendered brilliantly in the stage design: The set's a small, slightly tilted box surrounded by vast areas of dark, empty blue. We, like the characters, stay inside.
Hazel is correctly wary of her motives-Rose was a rival for Robin's affections way back when and remains a disruptive force-but Kirkwood keeps angles of their romantic triangle secondary to a larger concern: the mess that baby boomers have made of the world and what they can do to clean it up. As Rose, ever the femme fataliste, says: 'We can't have everything we want just because we want it.' Behind the subtleties of its direction and acting, The Children's central question is blunt: What does it mean to be responsible?
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