Caryl Churchill Plays Five

In this collection of plays from one of our finest dramatists, Caryl Churchill demonstrates her remarkable ability to find new forms to express profound truths about the world we live in. Complete with a new introduction by the author, this volume contains: Seven Jewish Children (Royal Court Theatre, London, 2009): a short play about seven families wondering how to protect their children, written at the time of the bombing of Gaza by Israel in 2008-9. Love and Information (Royal Court, 2012): a fast-moving kaleidoscope in which more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Ding Dong the Wicked (Royal Court, 2012): two families on opposite sides of a war, locked in identical hatred. Here We Go (National Theatre, 2015): a play about dying and being dead. Escaped Alone (Royal Court, 2016): three old friends and an unexpected neighbour have tea in a sunny back yard, and face catastrophes. Pigs and Dogs (Royal Court, 2016): a look at how colonialism crushed the fluidity of sexuality in Africa and brought a new intolerance, as shown in the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014. Also included are three previously unpublished short plays, each written in response to political events: War and Peace Gaza Piece (2014), Tickets are Now On Sale (2015) and Beautiful Eyes (2017). 'The wit, invention and structural ingenuity of Churchill's work are remarkable... she never does anything twice' Telegraph 'What is extraordinary about Churchill is her capacity as a dramatist to go on reinventing the wheel' Guardian

Includes a revival of her best-known play, "Cloud Nine" and a new translation, "Bliss".

The Theatre of Caryl Churchill documents and analyses the major plays and productions of one of Britain's greatest and most innovative playwrights. Drawing on hundreds of never-before-seen archival sources from the US and the UK, it provides an essential guide to Churchill's groundbreaking work for students and theatregoers. Each chapter illuminates connections across plays and explores major scripts alongside unpublished and unfinished projects. Each considers the rehearsal room, the stage, and the printed text. Each demonstrates how Churchill has pushed the boundaries of dramatic aesthetics while posing urgent political and theoretical questions. But since each maps Churchill's work in a different way, each deploys a different reading practice - for many approaches are necessary to characterise such a restlessly imaginative and prolific career. Through its five interlocking parts, The Theatre of Caryl Churchill tells a story about the playwright, her work, and its place in contemporary drama.

Marlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill's play prompts us to question our notions of women's success and solidarity. Its sharp look at the society and politics of the 1980s is combined with a timeless examination of women's choices and restrictions regarding career and family. This new Student Edition features an introduction by Sophie Bush, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK prepared with the contemporary student in mind. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains: · A chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work · an introductory discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created · a succinct overview of the creation processes followed and subsequent performance history of the piece · an analysis of, and commentary on, some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text · a bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials for further study.

Caryl Churchill's 'Three More Sleepless Nights' is a play about romantic relationships turning sour. It was first staged at the Soho Poly, London, on 9 June 1980.

A landmark play about sexual politics in colonial Africa and modern-day Britain, in which all our assumptions about sex and gender are stunningly exploded. Set in both colonial Africa and modern-day Britain, Cloud Nine is about relationships between women and men, men and men, women and women. -- Samuel French.

In a broken world, two girls meet an extraordinary creature. The Skriker is a shapeshifter and death portent. She can be an old woman, a child, a young man. She is a faerie come from the Underworld to pursue and entrap them, through time and space, through this world and her own. The Skriker was originally produced at the National Theatre, London, in 1994. It was revived at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2015, as part of the Manchester International Festival, starring Maxine Peake, directed by Sarah Frankcom and featuring specially commissioned music by Nico Muhly and Antony of Antony and the Johnsons. The Skriker is also available in the volume Caryl Churchill Plays: Three.

"Caryl Churchill is a dramatist who must surely be amongst the best half-dozen now writing? a playwright of genuine audacity and assurance, able to use her considerable wit and intelligence in ways at once unusual, resonant and dramatically riveting."?Benedict Nightingale From Love and Information: SEX What sex evolved to do is get information from two sets of genes so you get offspring that's not identical to you. Otherwise you just keep getting the same thing over and over again like hydra or starfish. So sex essentially is information. You dont think that while we're doing it do you? It doesn't hurt to know it. Information and also love. If you're lucky. In this fast-moving kaleidoscope, more than one hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Declared "the greatest living English playwright" by Tony Kushner, Caryl Churchill will premiere this latest work at London's Royal Court in fall 2012. Caryl Churchill is one of the most influential playwrights of our time. She is the author of more than twenty plays, including Seven Jewish Children, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, Top Girls, This is a Chair, Far Away, A Number, Cloud Nine, and Serious Money.