Ten years on from its Royal Court premiere, Lucy Kirkwood’s nuclear-disaster drama takes the stage at the Lyric Theatre. Critics agree that the work still poses a compelling dilemma, but disagree on whether this revival, or the play itself, fully earns its emotional payoff.
Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children returns to London for its tenth anniversary in a new production, starring Meera Syal as long retired, yoga doing nuclear scientist Hazel, who lives out a stripped-back existence near a radiation exclusion zone with her wine-brewing partner (and fellow nuclear scientist) Declan Conlon. When their old friend Rose (Kerry Fox) arrives, she brings with her a proposition that forces a reckoning over what one generation owes the next.
Critics all offered praise on the production’s trio of actors as well as the overall design, but they were split on two fronts: whether the play’s central environmental metaphor is outdated, and whether the play felt resolved.
The verdict: The Children is a handsomely designed, well-acted revival of a genuinely thought-provoking play and critics agree on its ideas but differ on whether this production, or even the play itself, fully delivers on them.
Critics’ comparison
| Publication | Rating | The Key Takeaway |
| The Telegraph | ★★★ | A cleverly staged production, undercut by the play’s flaws |
| TimeOut | ★★★ | A still relevant, ominous drama that at times, veers away from the central dilemma. |
| BroadwayWorld | ★★★ | Rich performances from the cast, in a play with shortcomings |
| The Stage | ★★★ | Urgent and unsettling, though pacing sometimes lets the drama drift. |
The reviews: what they loved about The Children
- Gary McCann’s set design: critics praised for the set design, which featured a small rustic cabin in the fore, with an industrial looking shell looming above. BroadwayWorld’s Clementine Scott called it ‘a masterclass in worldbuilding,’ giving the production ‘an aesthetic halfway between a log cabin and a spaceship.’ The Telegraph too found it clever, with the ‘large shell eerily reminiscent of all manner of nuclear equipment’ looming over the simple home Hazel and Robin shared, while Time Out’s Tom Wicker commented that the looming reactor-tunnel backdrop ‘neatly evokes the situation’s blunt urgency.’
- Meera Syal and Kerry Fox’s performances: The who women are seen as the highlights with critics. Time Out praised Syal’s ‘prickly and defensive’ Hazel and Fox’s nervy, socially awkward Rose as that stand in direct contrast to one another. BroadwayWorld enjoyed the same dynamic, enjoying the ‘great effect’ of their performances, with Syal as a ‘deadpan woman on the verge’ and Fox as a ‘social misfit who’s not quite aware her jokes aren’t landing.’ The Telegraph, despite its reservations about the play, called Syal ‘an actress of great warmth and skill’ and praised Fox’s ‘fine line in dry humour.’
The reviews: where critics differed
- The environmental metaphor: critics were split on whether the metaphor felt dated 10 years after its premiere. Time Out felt the play’s climate themes ‘have only grown more relevant’ given a summer of extreme weather while BroadwayWorld felt the opposite. They felt the same metaphor ‘doesn’t feel enough anymore’ and that the idea of older generations’ debt to the young ‘feels quaint and overstated now.’
- The play’s pacing: Critics had differing thoughts on the pacing and pointed out spots where the play seemed to undercut itself. BroadwayWorld felt the production languishes ‘in the script’s slower moments, in banter about parenthood and yoga’ ultimately leading to an important revelation being ‘clumsily dropped into the narrative’ with little weight. The Telegraph raised a related but more fundamental complaint: that the play itself ‘loops around in a vaguely mind-numbing fashion without ever reaching a satisfying crescendo.’
- The play has some shortcomings: The Telegraph felt the intergenerational debate at the play’s heart remains ‘ultimately unresolved,’ furthering the point by suggesting that had the characters’ work lives been ‘more convincingly fleshed out at the start, the pay-off would have been far greater.’ BroadwayWorld also noted that ‘the play’s shortcomings are still laid bare in this new production.’
The back story
First staged at the Royal Court in 2016 and inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, The Children follows retired nuclear physicists Hazel and Robin, who live a stripped-back existence in a remote cottage near a radiation exclusion zone, where they’ve retreated following a catastrophic accident at the nuclear plant they helped build. Their routine is disrupted when Rose, a former colleague and old friend neither has seen in decades, arrives unannounced. As old tensions and romantic history resurface, Rose’s true reason for visiting emerges: a request that forces all three to confront what they owe to the generations who will inherit the mess they made.
The cast includes:
- Hazel: Meera Syal
- Robin: Declan Conlon
- Rose: Kerry Fox
Written by Lucy Kirkwood, the creative team for The Children includes director Rachel O’Riordan, set and costume design by Gary McCann, lighting design by Anna Watson and sound design by Holly Khan
Where to see The Children
- Venue: Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, London W6 0QL, until 3 October 2026
- Age guidance: 14+
- Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes, no interval
- Full details on The Children
What are the critics saying about The Children?
“A drama that loops around in a vaguely mind-numbing fashion without ever reaching a satisfying crescendo”
“My principal problem, then as now, is that I struggle to believe in Rose (Kerry Fox), Hazel (Meera Syal) and Robin (Declan Conlon) as retired nuclear scientists.”
“Kirkwood, who deftly combined drama with geopolitics in Chimerica, fails to provide sufficient detail here to convince us of the trio’s expertise in this most specialised of areas.”
“Gary McCann’s clever design frames their basic home in a large shell eerily reminiscent of all manner of nuclear equipment.”
“There are some big, unconvincing swerves of emotion to navigate in the play’s 90-minute running time, as Rose reveals that she has an ulterior motive for her visit.”
“Yet, as in 2016, I wanted to be more moved by the dilemma that Rose puts before Hazel than I actually was. If these characters’ working lives had been more convincingly fleshed out at the start, the pay-off would have been far greater.”
“As the world around us has burned or flooded this summer, the environmental themes of Lucy Kirkwood’s pointedly allegorical drama The Children have only grown more relevant in the decade since it debuted.”
“The actors conjure an effectively brittle and on-edge atmosphere as the nuclear plant looms – literally and symbolically – over them in the form of the enormous reactor tunnel of Gary McCann’s set. It acts as the backdrop and frame for Hazel and Robin’s darkly post-apocalyptic The Good Life-style organic lifestyle. Ever-present and impossible to ignore, the aesthetic neatly evokes the situation’s blunt urgency.”
“Kirkwood’s set-up here is specific but the questions are far-reaching: what legacy are our actions leaving to our children as the next custodians of the planet? Do we have a responsibility to clean up the messes we have made, even if doing so costs us?”
“Along the way, the play unearths past romantic entanglements and jealousies that are ultimately less interesting than the central dilemma.”
“More intriguing are the thorny – and satisfyingly incomplete – debates about the value and purpose of a prolonged old age in the modern world, even if the introduction of a strand about letting kids grow up feels a little narratively convenient as the play manoeuvres towards sacrifice.”
“The climate crisis abuses us of the notion that we’re invincible, and ultimately forces us to reckon with exactly how much time we have left on Earth. On a much smaller scale, the same can be said of getting older.”
“Gary McCann’s set design is a masterclass in worldbuilding.”
“The environmental metaphor might have resonated in 2016, but with the proliferation of plays about the climate crisis in more recent years, it doesn’t feel enough anymore merely to point to the older generation’s responsibility for the crisis, which has been reiterated time and again.”
“This production chooses to focus on that domestic setting, languishing in the script’s slower moments, in banter about early parenthood and taking up yoga.”
“There is still a rich seam of tragicomic humour here, and the two lead actresses tap into it to great effect.”
“The play’s shortcomings are still laid bare in this new production, but it’s an exciting chance to see a modern gem, that still has pertinent things to say a decade on from its premiere.”
"Kirkwood has a superb ear for believable, stingingly witty dialogue, but rather than grounding the play’s apocalyptic events in recognisable reality, the commitment to understated naturalism feels strained here, sometimes undercutting the situation’s serious stakes."
"The text may not be best served by director Rachel O’Riordan’s sombre, unhurried pacing, which allows some of these deliberately evasive conversations to become directionless."
"Kerry Fox plays Rose with an awkward, brittle cheeriness that quickly breaks apart to reveal a great gulf of regret and shame."
"As Hazel, Meera Syal is all frosty politeness and passive aggression. But her breathless portrayal also reveals hidden trauma; she zones out mid-sentence as she relives events or faces up to mortality."
"Gary McCann’s dramatic design places a realistic cottage within a larger space representing the damaged nuclear plant, an echoing, spherical chamber with great concrete beams arcing overhead like the ribs of a whale. The cottage itself is canted to one side as though subsiding, so that objects slide and roll off surfaces mid-scene."
"Anna Watson’s understated lighting is impressively atmospheric, with the light spilling through the kitchen window gradually grading from faint yellow sunshine through sunset purple and finally to rich twilight blue, marking the passage of time as the characters flirt and debate their moral positions."
"Although all this slow-burn subtlety can make the play feel overly pensive, the point that Kirkwood makes is urgent and unsettling. In the face of climate breakdown, we must all take responsibility for salvaging what we still can – not for ourselves, but for future generations."
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