Courtenay Little Theatre presents The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, at the Sid Williams Theatre, from April 15-19. Part mystery, part comedy, part eco-thriller, The Children asks: What do we owe the next generation?

Set in a little cottage on the coast of England, a married couple, Robin and Hazel, spend a pleasant summer evening with an old friend, Rose, after she shows up out of the blue. There’s plenty of drinking, eating, joking and arguing, even some dancing – standard reunion fare. But not all is as it seems. The three are retired nuclear engineers who worked together at the nearby Nuclear Power Station, which was recently hit by a tsunami, causing a meltdown. The cottage is actually a temporary shelter; Robin and Hazel’s ruined home is located inside the exclusion zone. And Rose comes bearing secrets from the past and a challenging vision for the future.

The Children was nominated for a 2018 Tony Award for Best Play, and won the 2019 UK Writer’s Guild Award for Best New Play and the 2019 Australian Helpmann Award for Best Play.

About the theme of generational responsibility, millennial playwright Lucy Kirkwood commented, “my hope is that audiences will not feel that the play is about a single generation – it is not a satire on baby-boomers, it’s about all of us – in 35 years I will be Hazel’s age and I am certain that the next generations will be asking the same questions of me as mine ask of hers.”

Director Catherine Hannon (Dracula, Hedda Gabler, The Drawer Boy) chose the play for “its great dialogue and its wit, accessible characters and provocative ideas.” Hannon said she loves collaborating with veteran CLT actors Simon Easterman (Dracula), Erin Malin (Dracula, Myth of the Ostrich, The Shoplifters) and Ruthie Tilston (Humble Boy, The Ladies Foursome), a cast she said “have the experience, smarts and comic timing to balance both the humour and the drama of the The Children”.

Surprising, relatable, funny and moving, The Children will also represent CLT at the Theatre BC North Island Zone Theatre Festival at Nanaimo Theatre Group’s Bailey Theatre on May 20.

Tickets for shows at The Sid Williams Theatre, April 15-19 are available at www.sidwilliamstheatre.com and for more information about the NIZ festival go to www.courtenaylittletheatre.com

“Sly, gripping, darkly funny…” —The Times

“Grips compulsively…Leaves you an abundance of ideas on which to ruminate.” –The Guardian