It’s rare that I feel surprised these days. It’s true—I’ve reached the proverbial plain of middle age, where experiences, feelings, and adventures all have the distinct sense of having been lived before. Hence, when I left for the Belfry last night to catch the opening performance of The Children, I was all set to have a nice time, but I wasn’t at all prepared for the explosive, emotional, and utterly unique experience I was about to have.
Written by award-winning playwright Lucy Kirkwood, The Children focuses on the tenuous relationship between three friends, who also happen to be nuclear scientists in the British Isles reuniting after 30 years. All three are struggling with their inner and outer toils, dancing between being happy to see each other and facing the reality that they’re trying to save the island from a nuclear meltdown. And this is happening in the plant that all three of them helped build four decades earlier.
The Children tests emotions. All three characters are trapped in their own battles with cleaning up the past—theirs and the world’s. All are struggling with old guilt over careless decisions. Nancy Palk plays Hazel, a nuclear scientist and loyal wife and mother. Palk plays her part with the pinpoint precision that her slightly obsessive character depends on.
The challenging character of Rose is played by Brenda Robins. Rose is loud and opinionated with bawdy humour that obviously mirrors past hurts. Robins adopts Rose’s complications with determination and ferocity, making her the character who everyone roots for.
Finally, Joseph Ziegler is Robin, an aging nuclear engineer who deals with his past the same way he deals with his aging—by trying to face the other direction in the hopes that it may have fixed itself. The set, designed by Christina Poddubiuk, is ironic—a rustic country kitchen, cozy and hopeful, a sharp contrast to the fear and frustrations of the three characters. The costumes, also by Poddubiuk, are old-school, academic chic.
With frightening world issues tied up in a 30-year-old love triangle sprinkled liberally with British humour, The Children is a tongue-tying experience that left me joyous yet gasping for air.
The Children
Various times, until Sunday, October 13
Various prices (student tickets are 50 percent off), The Belfry
belfry.bc.ca/the-children