This Child

10–28 Nov 2008
Written by Joel Pommerat
Translated by Nigel Gearing
Directed by John Retallack, Ellen Hughes & Jonathan Young

“This child will give me strength. I’m going to show them just who I am. I’m going to show them that I’m not who they think I am…”

“I didn’t choose you. I didn’t choose to have a father like you. I didn’t choose you either. I didn’t choose to have a son like you.”

Everyone is someone’s child; every family has its own story.

Drawing on interviews with real parents bringing up their children on a housing estate in Normandy, this play is remarkable in its intensity and truth.

In a series of conversations and confrontations ‘This Child’ exposes the complexities of parent/child relationships. Scenes of passion, blame and awkwardness are followed in quick succession by moments of tenderness and understanding in a poignant examination of this most fundamental of human bonds.

Boundless Theatre  and The Junction in association with Pilot Theatre.

Awards

A major critical success in the original French, This Child won the Critics Association Award for Best Play in 2006.