The Manhattan Theatre Club is introducing playwright Lucy Kirkwood to our shores in a transfer of the successful British production of her play The Children in their Broadway space The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.  This is one of those reviews I hate to write.

The performers Francesca Annis, Ron Cook and Deborah Findlay are terrific.  The directions and design are noteworthy.  It is clear that playwright Lucy Kirkwood has a great ear for dialogue and a skill at building memorable characters.

Unfortunately I did not like the play itself.  The script seemed disjointed, did not reflect the urgency of the premise, and made less than believable leaps and connections.  Ms. Kirkwood is a rising talent in the theater and I am an old amateur hack, but try as I might I never felt comfortable with the shape of her script.  I look forward to a future efforts and would be very interested to hear other’s opinions once you have seen the production.

As always you can find more on http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @walterthinnes

TOMORROW: One of my scripts is a semi-finalist!