I wasn’t familiar with Gorky’s Children of the Sun when I sat down to watch Hilary Fannin’s version at the Abbey Theatre this past May. This Abbey Theatre version was very enjoyable, spurring me to read up on the original. However, that comparison with the original left me disappointed with some of the changes made in this modern retelling, and feeling like it was a missed opportunity.

The plot of the original is set in the mid-nineteenth century and focuses on a middle-class family so preoccupied by their own personal situations that they don’t even notice the Cholera epidemic sweeping across the country, causing mob violence. Eventually, they are attacked by a mass of angry peasants and one of the characters is shot dead. 

Hilary Fannin’s version

Fannin’s version keeps to the original in that the main characters are utterly self absorbed. Pavel, the scientist patriarch is totally consumed by his experiments. “I am attempting to colonise the last frontier. Time, Elena, time. If we could inhabit different iterations of self, we could undo all the mistakes of the past. Don't you see?” 

Pavel is completely oblivious to the fact that his wife, Elena, is having an affair with the local vet. His sister Liza lives with them and is the most aware of the impending catastrophe growing outside their home. But everyone thinks she’s mad, so they just keep going on and on about her nerves. Go outside and enjoy the fresh air they tell her. It’ll be good for your nerves. "Shut up about my fucking nerves," she responds.