The Children’s Hour

The Old Fitz is not the underground theatre you usually go to for high quality productions of 90-year-old, carefully constructed Broadway plays presented uncut. Yet here is Lillian Hellman’s 1934 major theatrical work presented as part of the 2025 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival – with a large and excellent cast probing deep into the text under the assured guidance of director Kim Hardwick.

This production could have led the way in any major company’s programme. The original was first staged at a time when any mention of homosexuality on stage was absolutely illegal in New York State. Expecting big textual changes, I was surprised by the restraint and accuracy of the production.

Karen (Romney Hamilton) and Martha (Jess Bell) are best friends and headmistresses at a private girls’ school in New England, where Martha’s actress and narcissist aunt Lily (Deborah Jones) acts as elocution teacher. Karen is about to marry her longtime boyfriend Joe (Mike Booth), the local doctor, but Martha doesn’t know. When this is disclosed, Martha is clearly taken aback.

The school’s resident Bad Seed is Mary (Kim Clifton), who broods and spreads malicious gossip: ‘the owners of the school are carrying on a love affair’. Mary’s grandmother, Mrs. Tilford (Annie Byron), the town matriarch, is shocked and horrified, and leads a well-funded charge against the poor owners. Students are pulled from the school. Karen and Martha sue for libel, a calamitist decision.

The acting of the entire cast is exceptional. Romney Hamilton and Jess Bell are brilliant as the owners and shocked libellous pair. Deborah Jones and Annie Byron lend an extra coat of quality. Mike Booth handles his scenes with style and assurance: his final scene with the stricken Karen is exceptional.

Kim Clifton makes a glorious feast of her part as the Young Bad Seed, making her motives and reasons exceptionally clear. And the other girls are just right, looking and responding exactly like the real thing.

Design by Emilia Simcox is fine, as is Lighting by Jimi Rawlings and Sound by Michael Huxley. With more money available, better results would have been possible. With the four see-through panels, one being used as a door, the classroom is minimally achieved. And the posh home of Mrs Tilford is just a rolled-up canopy away. Everything depends on the acting.

And this is where Kim Hardwick comes in. Resolute and determined, she gets our full applause for bringing the power of buried sexual passion to the surface.

Frank Hatherley

Photographer: Phil Erbacher