Lucy Kirkwood's The Children was inspired by the Fukushima accident

Lucy Kirkwood's play The Children, which premiered in London in 2016 and has also been staged in New York and Sydney, raises these and other questions.

Former head of acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts Tony Knight is directing Chaika Theatre's production of the work and has relocated the action to Australia.

"What fascinates me about The Children is it's about people my own age, which I haven't done before," Knight said.

"Everybody is in their 60s."

Inspired in part by the nuclear accident in Fukushima in 2011, the play takes place after a nuclear plant was destroyed by a tidal wave.

It's still functioning but needs to be repaired.

Living in a cottage nearby but outside the carcinogenic radiation danger zone are two retired nuclear physicists, Hazel (played by Karen Vickery) and her husband Robin (Michael Sparks).

In a world that has remained relatively normal, they enjoy a quiet life, seeing their children and grandchildren and tending to their vegetable garden.

Then a former colleague, Rose (Lainie Hart), unexpectedly re-enters their lives.

Also a retired nuclear physicist, Rose, who is single and has no children, hasn't seen Hazel and Robin in nearly 40 years. However, they have a significant shared history, and the reunion has some tensions and undercurrents.

The three of them sing along to favourite songs by artists like Blondie and Cat Stevens and play party games. While the games provide a bit of light relief they also bring out things that have previously been left unsaid.

Knight said The Conversation reminded him of some of Edward Albee's plays about interpersonal issues in which people in their own seemingly safe world are haunted by the past.

"Into that world comes a threat."

In this case it's Rose, who hasn't just come to reconnect with the couple, sing songs and play games. She has a frightening request to make of Hazel and Robin.

"Rose's motives seem a little bit obscure but they are essentially for the greater good," Knight said.

While the subject matter might sound serious, "It's really very funny," Knight said.

"There are twists and turns and things become a little bit unexpected."

The play, Knight said, "is a metaphor for climate change, though it's not explicitly stated".

Given that and the current discussions of nuclear power and the risks it poses, Knight said The Children was a timely play to present.

As for the title, it had more than one meaning, too, Knight said. Not only was there a message about the impact of the present on the future, but the characters themselves behave at times like children, or at least young adults, when things become heated.

"There's an issue of responsibility," Knight said.

While children are rarely expected to take on heavy responsibility, adults are. But will the characters in this play accept they have a responsibility and act on it?

Knight and Vickery were colleagues at NIDA and he accepted her invitation to direct The Children for her company, Chaika Theatre. His last Canberra gig was about 18 months ago: he directed Lakespeare & Co's outdoor production of Shakespeare's As You Like It.