The Children
by Lucy Kirkwood
A contemporary comic drama set on the seismically active, tsunami-eroded, albeit beautiful, rural coast of Angelsea, England in the environs of a compromised nuclear power plant. Does that sound a bit like our home? While the world outside is dealing with the aftermath of the disaster at the plant, married couple Hazel and Robin, nuclear physicists who worked at the now-failed plant, are visited by a former colleague who upsets the balance of their already precarious existence with both humourous and far-reaching effects.
Discussion Opportunity: Lucy Kirkwood’s play, The Children, revolves around a fictional event on the east coast of England in which a nuclear power station is damaged by a triple-junction earthquake followed by a tsunami. This fictional scenario is not unlike the actual 2011 Fukushima disaster. While watching the play, the plausibility of a seismic-tsunami event impacting the Humboldt Bay Generating Station (HBGS) and spent nuclear fuel storage facility (ISFISI) at Buhne Point in King Salmon, may come to mind for some playgoers. After the Sunday matinee performance on August 14, in cooperation with Cal Poly Humboldt Department of Environmental Science & Management and the Humboldt Bay Sea Level Rise Institute, there will be a community talk back about the themes in the play and potential scenarios in Humboldt Bay that could impact our local power station. Patrons who wish to be part of this discussion, may simply stay after the play to participate. Food and refreshment will be provided at no cost to the participants.