The Children
Reviewed by Philip Brandes
Ensemble Theatre Company at the New Vic
Through April 23
RECOMMENDED
What starts out as an intimate, often comically awkward reunion of aging Boomer scientists evolves into a sobering meditation on climate change, intergenerational responsibility, and personal sacrifice in Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company production of The Children.
British playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s 2016 drama is already a theatrical staple thanks to its topicality, sharply-drawn characters, and slow-mounting but inexorable tension — qualities abundantly apparent in veteran SoCal director Jenny Sullivan’s taut staging.
In a deceptively idyllic cottage setting by the English seaside, a pair of retired physicists-turned-farmers cling to a semblance of normal life in the aftermath of an ecological disaster at the nearby nuclear power plant where they once worked (Kirkwood’s all-too-realistic dystopian scenario mirrors the 2011 Fukushima meltdown).
Even as emergency teams are still struggling to safely engineer a cold reactor shut-down, homemaker Hazel (Nancy Travis) devotes herself to household maintenance (her obsessive diligence is evident in Sam Vawter’s immaculately detailed scenic design). Meanwhile, her husband Robin (Michael Butler) goes out each day to tend the farm animals left behind at their evacuated former home.
This façade of ordinary routine is upended by an unexpected visit from their old power plant colleague, Rose (Linda Purl), Robin’s once and perhaps more recent romantic partner.
As they dance around the unresolved baggage from that romantic triangle, the well-cast ensemble sharply differentiate the characters of hyper-organized Hazel, affably flirty Robin, and free-spirited disrupter Rose.
All three scientists are surgically adept at needling each other’s psychic sore spots in witty, articulate sparring reminiscent of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Between the script’s sophisticated vocabulary, innuendos, and overlapping lines of dialogue, there’s room for further fine tuning where some of the punchlines land.
Never in doubt, however, are the complicated emotions and currents of genuine affection driving the characters. Expertly-timed visual jolts — a plumbing mishap here, a clothing malfunction there—ratchet up the stakes at key transitional moments as Rose gradually unveils her darker purpose.
Born in 1983, Kirkwood wrote The Children from a Millennial’s perspective on preceding generations’ failed stewardship of the planet and the diminishing resources available to their descendants. The play’s indictment of stubborn Boomer self-interest is succinctly summed up in Robin’s petulant protest that “I don’t want to live with less. It’s hell.”
Nevertheless, Rose persists in steering her former co-workers towards recognition of their (and our own) shared complicity in the state of things. There’s a tough-minded glimmer of hope in her proposed path to help balance the scales, but it will take more than bringing our own bags to the supermarket.
Ensemble Theatre Company at the New Vic; 33 W. Victoria Street, Santa Barbara; Wed. & Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri. & Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun.., 2 p.m.; https://etcsb.org/production/The-children/; Running Time: Approx. 2 hours with no intermission.
