The Children

A co-production with Canadian Stage
Written by Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Eda Holmes

The future is in our hands!
In this 2018 Tony-nominated play by one of Britain’s current leading young playwrights, two British nuclear engineers, husband and wife, are living near the seaside in a modest cottage assigned to them following a nearby nuclear disaster in the plant where they used to work. At the point in their lives when they finally feel they have contributed all they can to society and simpler, slower lives beckon, a former colleague drops by unexpectedly after 38 years, ostensibly to reminisce about old times. In characteristic British wit, it turns out the three have more in common than just a working relationship but all that falls by the wayside as the unexpected guest’s true purpose is revealed. Her shocking proposal not only puts a “past due” stamp on their own lives, but has the devastating power to affect the lives of generations to come.

The Children opened at the Royal Court Theatre in November 2016 to positive acclaim and subsequently moved to Broadway the following year. The play was nominated for the 2018 Tony Award for Best Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award. It also won the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Play in January 2018.

“Lucy Kirkwood is one of today’s most talented, contemporary playwrights addressing timely stories. The Children asks the question: what are we leaving behind for the next generation? The three characters all came of age in the activist era of the ‘70s and Kirkwood uses the microcosm of their youthful romantic triangle to examine the hard realities that they now face as mature adults in the world. It is a call-to-action play, one that optimistically states that we are in this together and have the tools to take on the future—a strong, hopeful, and courageous message for the current and future generations.” – Centaur’s Artistic and Executive Director, Eda Holmes

“A richly suggestive and beautifully written piece of work […] Kirkwood is the most rewarding dramatist of her generation.” – The Independent

The London Evening Standard makes a titillating point with, “In this three-hander Kirkwood refreshingly presents characters very rarely seen on our stages: (sexually) active sixty-somethings.”

Time Out NY gives The Children ★ ★ ★ ★, calling it “unsettling and provocative“

Vulture makes this intriguing observation: “The Children […] is a play about responsibility and guilt, reparation and redemption. It’s also a British play, so these heavy matters are handled lightly, wryly; they’re approached from the side until circumstances absolutely demand a head-on confrontation.”

“The Children is excellent” and Broadway News writes, “simmering, searing, daring”. – The Daily Beast

Though British-born Lucy Kirkwood was raised up in east London, she earned a degree in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. While there, Lucy was a member of  the Edinburgh Fringe’s longest running improv troupe (29 years), the Improverts, presented at the Bedlam Theatre where, in 2005, Lucy wrote and starred in her first play, Grady Hot Potato. It was later selected for the National Student Drama Festival. Chimerica, her 2013 play about relations between China and America, received the 2014 Laurence Olivier Award. In 2017, Mosquitoes, was sold out for the entirely of its run at London’s renowned National Theatre. This past June, Lucy was elected a Fellow of the esteemed Royal Society of Literature as part of its “40 under 40” initiative.

Gemini and Dora Award-winning actor, Geordie Johnson, is an international stage, film and TV actor who has worked in Canada, the US, New Zealand, the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Laurie Paton, an 18-season Shaw Festival veteran who has performed on stages throughout Canada, makes her Centaur debut with this play.  Completing this stellar theatrical triumvirate and no stranger to Centaur audiences, is one of Canada’s most beloved stage and screen actors, Fiona Reid.

Enrich your theatre experience
Talk Backs:
Thursday November 15, 2018 post performance.
Sunday November 18, 2018 post matinée.
Great theatre provokes wide-ranging emotions and probing introspection. We invite you to stay after the performance to share your reactions with the artists and clear up any questions you might have about the play.

Sunday Chat-Up:
Sunday November 11, 2018 at 12:30pm in the Ted T. Katz Family Trust Gallery
Join Montreal Gazette Editor-in-Chief Lucinda Chodan in conversation with her guests as they speak about environment, legacy, the future and The Children. Free public event with refreshments provided by Bonaparte Restaurant.

For tickets and information: www.centaurtheatre.com 514-288-3161

Centaur Theatre
453 St. François-Xavier