Meera Syal stars in this revival of Lucy Kirkwood’s debut play.
The Guardian: “The three characters are fascinating, complex and intriguingly volatile. Syal’s Hazel starts off as warm and funny: a determinedly healthy retiree wedded to yoghurt and yoga. But Syal’s performance has depth and bite and her character gradually emerges as a deeply perceptive woman with a steely centre. Conlon’s Robin has a boyish energy about him, which initially feels lighthearted but gradually turns terribly sad. Fox’s Rose is strong and resourceful, yet still capable of trembling with desires unspent. The emotions of all three – and the temperature of the scenes – turn in a flash. Sexy one second. Dangerous the next. Loving and tender. Seething with resentment and regret.”
The Standard: “Syal’s character is the heart of the play and she’s great in it, constantly in nervy motion, worrying at the moral and existential questions the other two mostly skim over. Conlon is forceful and sonorous as Robin and Fox makes the best of the least well-fleshed part. O’Riordan’s economical, fluid production makes the play feel alive and timely, if perhaps not quite a modern classic.”
WhatsOnStage: “The production succeeds because it never lectures its audience. Instead, it entertains, unsettles and gradually invites reflection. What I expected to be a nice, sweet Friday-night post-work watch turned out to be funny, thought-provoking, unsettling and ultimately deeply moving. Highly recommended.”
Theatre & Tonic: “To express such complex emotions with such naturalness is, in itself, a testament to the skill of the playwright, director and actors. I am not certain whether the choice for older people to take responsibility for the younger generation is the best conclusion. But the fact that this play can provoke thought through conversations that are almost entirely everyday in nature, and make us want to enter into the inner lives of its three characters, is already a tremendous success.”
The Reviews Hub: “Syal is a fine comic actor, and gets Hazel’s defensive, self-righteous determination to enjoy her retirement, come what may, spot on. Fox’s louche nomadic Rose, the diametrical opposite to the matriarch Hazel and still with an eye for Robin, is tremendous, too. Declan Conlon brings cheery Irish roguishness to Robin, though one wonders whether a retired nuclear scientist would really be milking cows and touching up female farm hands with such obvious abandon. “
All That Dazzles: “The Children feels particularly relevant today, challenging us to consider the consequences of the choices we make and what we leave behind for future generations.”
London Theatre.co.uk: “Originally written in response to the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, you’d expect Kirkwood’s script to feel more like a museum piece than a knotty, topical drama in 2026. But with climate change and the world forever on the brink of crisis, its arguments prick with a renewed, damning sting. With a set designed by Gary McCann that places their home within a cocoon of nuclear equipment, we’re never quite allowed to forget the imminent threat.”
London Unattached: “But The Children is most compelling for how successfully it finds resonant images to structure its drama. Rose claims to have heard the tolling bells of Dunwich’s medieval churches, a Suffolk town lost to coastal erosion hundreds of years ago”
London Theatre 1: “Some humour in the dialogue brings comic relief to an otherwise intense narrative, and this intriguing and thoughtful production is highly relevant in the turbulent and uncertain world in which we live.”
Time Out: “Along the way, the play unearths past romantic entanglements and jealousies that are ultimately less interesting than the central dilemma. More intriguing are the thorny – and satisfyingly incomplete – debates about the value and purpose of a prolonged old age in the modern world, even if the introduction of a strand about letting kids grow up feels a little narratively convenient as the play manoeuvres towards sacrifice.”
Theatre Weekly: “With an ending which highlights the large tunnel that encloses the set, the final scenes are a little odd. This all seems a bit strange throughout, as it is never fully utilised, yet the tunnel surrounding the naturalistic scene places weight on the fact that the nuclear plant has fractured these people’s lives and that its implications will haunt their children.”
To book tickets visit: https://lyric.co.uk/shows/the-children/