The new drama Children asks what we will leave behind for future generations

Lucy Kirkwood’s Children (The Childern, 2016), which premieres on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 30 September , asks what a good life is and what kind of world we leave for future generations. The roles of the new drama with a taste of life are played by charismatic actors Jukka-Pekka Palo, Jaana Saarinen and Aino Seppo. The play, translated into Finnish by Reita Lounatvuori, is directed by Johanna Freundlich.

“Lucy Kirkwood’s drama Children is multi-layered; On the one hand, it is appealing, on the other hand, it is entertaining. The personal struggles of the three characters, drawn with deep understanding, are seamlessly intertwined with larger questions about what we will leave behind for the next generation. The work is intellectual, but approachable, and offers a nut to crack, in the hands of a brilliant and equally strong, true dream team cast. Children is a delicately unfolding journey into the present, the past – and the future,” says director Johanna Freundlich.

Hazel (Aino Seppo) and Robin (Jukka-Pekka Palo), a retired nuclear engineer couple, are living a simple life in the countryside away from the big world, when a friend from their youth and former colleague Rose (Jaana Saarinen) unexpectedly arrives as a guest. Love, friendship and old memories sparked in the air. With the help of life experience and irony, children and grandchildren, the life lived and the choices made are discussed. How far is everyone willing to go to repair the past and its traces into the future?

The set and costumes for the Children performance were designed by Mark Väisänen. The lighting design is by Heikki Paasonen and the sound design by Eradj Nazimov. The camouflage was designed by Jaana Nykänen.

Johanna Freundlich is a director and screenwriter who graduated as a director from the Theatre Academy and previously studied at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. During his career, he has also made opera for e.g. on the main stage of the Finnish National Opera and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Olavinlinna Castle. Freundlich’s six-hour play Angels in America was awarded the Ester Theatre Prize in 2011. In addition to this work, the Tampere Theatre Festival has over the years seen her directing from the National Theatre, the Group Theatre, the KOM Theatre, the Ahaa Theatre and Puoli-Q. Freundlich has been awarded the Richard Wagner Cultural Association’s Bayreuth Scholarship. His direction and dramatization Crime and Punishment was invited to the Dostoevsky Festival 2018 in Veliky Novgorod. At the Helsinki City Theatre, Freundlich has previously directed the play The Yellow Moon (2011).

Lucy Kirkwood (born 1986) is a multi-award-winning British playwright and screenwriter. His play Children received two Tony Award nominations on Broadway in 2018, was awarded the Helpmann Award for Best Play in 2018 in Australia, and The Guardian magazine ranked the play third in its list of the 100 best plays of the 2000s in 2019. Kirkwood’s plays have previously been performed in Finland as Bara för dig (Lilla Teatern, 2013), First Felt the Emptiness When the Heart Was Taken Away but Now It’s All Well (KokoTeatteri, 2015) and Hans och Greta (Svenska Teatern, 2018).

Children premiere 30.9.2021 on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre (Eläintarhantie 5)
Student ticket €20.50 (Mon-Thu), pensioner ticket €38 (Mon-Thu), basic ticket €41
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