Melbourne Theatre Company Presents
The Children
By Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Sarah
Goodes
Set and Costume
Design – Elizabeth Gadsby
Lighting Designer
– Paul Jackson
Composer and Sound
Designer – Steve Francis
Cast:
Hazel – Pamela
Rabe
Rose – Sarah
Peirse
Robin – William
Zappa
A challenging and
rewarding work The Children unfolds
naturalistically in real time.
On a simple
functional set of a rustic kitchen by Elizabeth Gadsby, that is superbly lit by
Paul Jackson, three clever and influential sixty something nuclear physicists
reunite. The world as they know it has
been turned upside down by a Fukushima like disaster. Some of their pasts are divulged and we get to
witness their flawed and often messy humanness.
And the apparently altruistic reason for the, often uncomfortable, ‘get
together’ is revealed in the last minutes of the piece.
Lucy Kirdwood’s
text functions on a number of levels. As
an unfolding story it is full of surprises and maintains interest. However as an observation of characters from
the baby boomer generation it sometimes feels like an indictment. The subject matter of our damage to our
planet is deeply unsettling. But there
is another niggling ambiguous rift in this production. Perhaps it is in the writing. I am wondering if this is because Kirkwood is
a much younger woman than the generation she is writing about. Therefore what is presented is only partially
from the lived perspective of the protagonists. So at times the actors are bound by the way
Kirkwood has written - to perform their characters from the perspective of an
observer.
There is lots of
humour and many laughs in this work.
However I get the impression there is a delicate balance, for director
Sarah Goodes, between releasing the intrinsic sense of fun and play in the
material from under the pall of the framing of a story of cataclysmic disaster. I am wondering if the production itself tends
more towards naturalism then the playwright intended.
Pamela Rabe’s Hazel
is upfront and fascinated by, and unapologetic for, her own very human foibles. At times she seems to be Hazel but every now
and again she performs Hazel with self-deprecating humour. Sarah Peirse brings to life the more
independent and troubled Rose, a haunting presence who generally seems removed,
somewhat toxic, and willfully unaffected by her friends. William Zappa plays Robin, Hazel’s husband,
the character with a greater sense of humour.
As with the other two his character expresses a very finely toned sense
of his own self-importance.
Throughout there
are a number of rather clunky clichés and strangely simplistic statements. All three characters are penned as clever
privileged people exhibiting the appropriate blend of narcissism of those of their
generation. They have a disparate
awkwardness about them as they relate to each other in an often-prickly
manner. The chemistry between the
characters feels thin and fleeting but perhaps this will grow during the run. Or perhaps one of the points of the work is
that we are all alone together in this nest that we have soiled.
Sound by Steve
Francis is minimal and extremely effective particularly in the last moments of
the staging.
My quibbles and
questions aside I found The Children
very engaging and rewarding, most particularly, for the argument it presents -
I do heartily ‘recommend it.
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
