The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman Theatre & Performing Arts

Set in a New England boarding school for girls in the 1930’s, the result of one spiteful young pupil’s monstrous lie shattering consequences

The Children’s Hour is a superb play – and that’s no word of a lie!
In today’s scary and confusing world, fake news and malicious scams abound, fed by the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence. They are the evil of the hour. But in the latest production at the Barn Theatre, WGC, set in a New England boarding school for girls in the 1930’s, the result of one spiteful young pupil’s monstrous lie has equally shattering life changing consequences.
For director, Steve Thompson, The Children’s Hour, by Lillian Hellman, is his sixteenth Barn production. “It is an underrated gem that has not been performed as often as it should be, “he said. “I loved it from the first time I was involved in a play reading many years ago. Its theme is just as modern and relevant today.
It was Hellman’s debut play, first produced in New York in 1934 and was a huge success It opened to rave reviews and ran for two years on Broadway. The play – dazzlingly brilliant but equally scandalous – made Hellman a celebrity at the age of twenty nine.”
Steve, a playwright and tv script writer, has been involved at the Barn, since the 70’s, initially acting with the youth drama group but directing for the last 37 years. “I prefer directing to acting,” he said. “It is the most enjoyable, like painting pictures but with real people.
In this production I have an incredibly talented and responsive cast so they make it easy for me. And it is good to have so many roles for female actors. It’s a fantastic play with a great cast. I am in my element.”
Janey Foster and Martha Furnival – both in their second season at the Barn – play the two leading roles of the teachers embroiled in the scandal, with incredible emotional impact. They are joined by Barn stalwarts Victoria Rive, Suzie Major, Sarah Haverson and, in a beautifully tragic performance, Matt Greenbank.
“It’s a real thrill for me as a Director to be working with new talent and I’m delighted that eleven of the cast are people I have never directed before,” said Steve.
There are some exciting young actors playing the schoolgirls – Chloe Evans, Daisy Solomon, Olivia Palmer-Walker, Pippa Kidd, Emma Shaw, Lola Hempsall, Nevin Namli, Libby Tanner and Alex Kennedy, in the pivotal role of Mary.
In her first appearance at the Barn, Alex brilliantly captures the chilling, controlling and deranged behaviour of the troubled pupil who starts the disastrous chain of events that destroys lives forever.”
Lillian Hellmann, who based the story of The Children’s Hour on an actual case, ranks among the most famous and controversial of American playwrights. She never shied away from provocative, social justice-based themes. The theme of The Children’s Hour about two women accused of having a lesbian affair, was considered so shocking that some members of the Pulitzer Prize committee refused to see it, costing it a nomination.
Hellman is often spoken of in the same breath as Arthur Miller, indeed the two of them were close friends, and also rivals. Much of their work touches on the same themes… Miller’s ‘Crucible’, written 20 years later, is considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, but the premise is uncannily similar… Both plays are about a monstrous lie perpetrated by a bunch of schoolgirls that has devastating consequences for the adults in their community.
Sadly her career came to an abrupt end when she was a victim of the McCarthy Witch trials, (anti communist campaign in the USA)), that raged in Hollywood in the 1950s. She became far less prolific in later life and her career dwindled. She died in 1984.
A black and white film version of The Children’s Hour was released in 1961, starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner. More recently this play has enjoyed two successful revivals in the UK; first at the Royal Exchange Manchester starring Maxine Peake (‘Silk’) and then in the West End starring Keira Knightly (‘Atonement’) and Elizabeth Moss (‘the Handmaid’s Tale’).

The Children’s Hour runs at the Barn Theatre, Handside Lane WGC from 14th-22 November with a matinee on the second Saturday. Tickets available from www.barntheatre.co.uk

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