By Mitchell Field
Lucy Kirkwood’s 2016 play The Children, was Tony-nominated for Best Play of 2018. Writers for The Guardian placed it third on a list of the greatest theatrical works since 2000.
In the Left Edge Theatre production, a married couple, Hazel (Priscilla Locke) and Robin (John Craven) both retired nuclear scientists, are living in a drab cottage near the English seaside, after a disaster at the local nuclear power station where they were formerly employed.
…theater stalwarts Locke, Craven, and Cain provide absolutely superb, quite touching performances…
Despite problems with rationed electricity and water, and the threat of airborne radiation, the couple are trying, in a stiff-upper-lip British way, to live a normal existence. Robin farms so that Hazel, the mother of four adult children, may eat organic greens to maintain her healthiest life possible.
Their post-apocalyptic tranquility is interrupted when former colleague Rose (Danielle Cain) shows up at their door after almost four decades. The childless Rose has a secret but is she there with sinister intentions or merely to rekindle her prior affair with Robin?
Under Sandra Ish’s insightful direction, North Bay theater stalwarts Locke, Craven, and Cain provide absolutely superb, quite touching performances, in a story in which reparation, redemption and whether having children of one’s own should make one more socially responsible. Combined, those are the point of this darkly comical play.
This reviewer enthusiastically recommends this show.
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Mitchell Field is a Sr. Contributing Writer for Aisle Seat Review. Based in Marin County, Mr. Field is an actor and voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC). Contact: [email protected]
| Production | The Children |
|---|---|
| Written by | Lucy Kirkwood |
| Directed by | Sandra Ish |
| Producing Company | Left Edge Theater Co. |
| Production Dates | Thru Feb 19th, 2023 |
| Production Address | California Theatre 528 7th St. Santa Rosa, CA |
| Website | www.leftedgetheatre.com |
| Telephone | (707) 664-7529 |
| Tickets | $22-$40 |
| Reviewer Score | Max in each category is 5/5 |
| Overall | 3.5/5 |
| Performance | 3.5/5 |
| Script | 3.5/5 |
| Stagecraft | 3.5/5 |
| Aisle Seat Review Pick? | ---- |