The Children

By Lucy Kirkwood

Directed by Carrie Cable

Tuesday 20^th to Saturday 24^th February 2024

Studio, 7.45pm

The setting is an old, isolated cottage near the sea. Hazel and Robin are eking out their lives as the world around them crumbles. Something has gone very wrong at the nearby nuclear power station and the local area has been devastated. There has been a radiation leak and electricity and water have been rationed. Then Rose, an old colleague arrives. They reminisce on their lives, love affairs, marriage, parenthood and ageing. 

But all three were nuclear scientists who worked at the plant in their youth.

The implications of the disaster and consequences for the land, the environment and the young scientists and others who work at the plant are becoming clear and the conversations take a different turn.

The play explores responsibility and accountability for actions and decisions taken in the past and their impact on the present. It is also above love and betrayal and social conscience and selfishness. The message is unsettling but there is also plenty of fun and witty dialogue along the way.

Three actors - playing ages 60s.

Hazel: married to Robin and mother of four children. Organised, outwardly confident. Into healthy eating and yoga.

Rose: single no children. Confident, relaxed and at ease with herself, the paths she has travelled and the direction she is headed in.

Robin: married to Hazel and father of four children. A loyal husband but he has secrets.

AUDITION DATES

You can audition on Sunday 22nd October at 6.30pm or Monday 23rd October at 7pm. If successful, you will be asked to attend recalls on Thursday 26th October at 7pm.

Please register to audition by emailing the director, Carrie Cable at ptc.thechildren@gmail.com 

REVIEWS

The play premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in 2016 and has been performed in the USA, Canada and Australia. The Guardian placed the play third on its list of greatest theatrical works since 2000.

 ‘Kirkwood…has…written a genuinely disturbing play: one not simply about nuclear power but about the heavy price we may pay in the future for the profligacy of the present’. - The Guardian

‘…a richly suggestive and beautifully written piece of work…Kirkwood is the most rewarding dramatist of her generation.’ —The Independent

‘THE CHILDREN is tantalisingly hard to define: it is about aging and responsibility…It is very English, somewhat menacing, and often funny…What THE CHILDREN is not is a polemic about the oft-cited irresponsibility of baby boomers; instead it rather penetratingly asks what they owe younger generations, exactly. —Time Out.

PLEASE NOTE

We are committed to improving diversity in our casting and, unless stated for artistic reasons, we aim to actively adopt an inclusive casting policy.

This is an amateur production. You do not need to be a member of PTC to audition, but actors and crew will need to become members for £30 a year by direct debit. A £25 show fee will also need to be paid by all actors in the production. We encourage you to become a member of PTC anyway, even if not cast.

Our company is run by volunteers and we expect all actors cast in a play to volunteer for Front of House duties at least once a year. Our shows could not go up without our Front of House volunteers.