"The Children" by Lucy Kirkwood.

Nottingham Playhouse.

Hazel and Robin, two retired nuclear scientists living in a coastal cottage in the wake of a disaster at a local power station, seek to preserve a semblance of normality. Even though electricity is rationed and a Geiger counter is on hand to check for signs of radiation, Robin now farms, the super-organised Hazel practises yoga and eats plenty of salad and yoghurt, and the pair keep in touch with their eldest daughter, one of four children.

Then Rose, a fellow nuclear physicist whom they haven’t seen for 38 years, suddenly turns up, and that is when their orderly existence is disrupted. Has Rose come to reignite her old affair with Robin or does she have some darker purpose?

The play runs straight through, with no interval, which allows you to appreciate the slow burn without any flow disruption to the concentration or the storyline. The play is performed in real time, and when you get to the actual reason for Rose's visit, and what happens after that, you get a real feeling of unease. 

All three characters in the play are around about my age, and I found I was putting myself in Hazel and Robin's shoes regarding the reason for Rose's visit, and that was a scary set of size 10s to inhabit.

In the short length of time the play covers, around about ninety minutes, you get the full back story of all three characters, and there are several stops on the journey that  make you stop and think about your own existence, and how you would react to those situations. This is truly a thought provoking play.

Lucy Kirkwood has written a pretty disturbing play which, as a parent of four children, really makes you think about the future of your kids, and how we have influenced their future by our past and present actions, or lack of them.

What I wasn't expecting, given the subject of "The Children" was the massive amount of humour in the script, provided by all three characters. Some of it is nervous humour as reactions to certain situations and comments, but humour is a thread that starts from the opening scene and throughout. The ending though is quite chilling and explained the presence of an object above our heads.

Hazel is played by Caroline Harker. Straight away you get the feeling that Hazel is not at ease with Rose's visit, as you'll gather from how the play opens. Caroline plays Hazel on the back foot, knowing that, after 38 years without contact, that Rose was not here for a chat and a coffee. How right Hazel's instincts were. 

All three actors are well known for their television roles but seeing them on stage, and especially in a story like this one, really shows what talented stage actors we have. Sometimes when actors from serial dramas on TV appear in stage plays, there is a possibility of derision from theatre buffs, but you see them in a different light, and after all acting for TV is very different to acting on stage.

Robin is played by Clive Mantle. Robin likes to make his own wine; he also likes to drink his own wine. One reason for this can be surmised by a secret that he has been keeping from Hazel since the disaster that caused them to move to the little cottage where they now live. Robin is a bit of a lush, and also a bit of a lad, despite his years, still seemingly burning a candle for Rose. Robin, towards the end of the play makes a decision, but not until there's quite an unsettling scene, brought on by a chain reaction caused by Rose.

Sally Dexter, who you will know from playing Faith in Emmerdale, plays Rose. Rose is the first character we see, and from the off, causes quite a shocking image. That is easily explained though. We find out that rose has no children herself and never married, but has had some interesting relationships, and has suffered personal loss. I might have expected Rose to be the comedy provider in the play, but all three are equal in the comedy stakes, which is why when the shocks start to happen, they come like a slap in the face.

Sally, Caroline and Clive are a class trio and you find yourself gravitating to all three actors and characters at different periods of the play, and for different reasons.

Directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward, the pace of this play is like riding a bike uphill; it's slow, steady and you know that at some stage you'll hit that peak and go thundering down the other side. This simile though does not reveal until you get to the top that the brakes are not as good as you thought and you can feel and see the panic behind the eyes. The reveal for Rose's visit and the ultimate choices made are well timed to cause the maximum impact to the story and the auditorium.

The set and costume design are the work of Amy Jane Cook. As soon as you walk into the auditorium you are met by a truly magnificent stage set. Everything takes place in the kitchen of the cottage, but it's what you can see above and below the cottage kitchen that provide the wow factor. I do not want to give anything away, but there is a hint of the magnitude of the set in the pictures below.

Lighting Designer is Jamie Platt and the sound design is by Dominic Brennan. Combined, this pair create everything you need to paint pictures of what happens outside the set space. The very ending collaboration between sound and light causes a real feel of menace.

I knew nothing, or very little of the storyline for this piece of theatre before tonight, which is why when the story unfurled, it created that shock element that you anticipated, but knew not from where that shock and horror would arrive, and from whom. And, unfortunately, there is that element of the possibility that this story may play out for real in the very near future.

Thought provoking and thrilling, and a real treat to see three excellent actors, just feet away from you, doing what they do best, earning a living and providing us with a night of exciting entertainment.

There is also a set tour of "The Children" set on Wednesday 3 April, and for more details, please go to the Nottingham Playhouse website.

"The Children" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 6 April.