Churchill Plays: Four

The fourth volume of the collected plays of one of the best playwrights alive.

Written over a period of ten years and evincing an extraordinary range of topics and techniques, this fourth volume of Caryl Churchill's collected plays confirms her standing as a playwright who is 'amongst the best half-dozen now writing' (The Times).

This volume includes:

Hotel (Schauspielhaus, Hannover, 1997), an innovative theatre piece combining music, voices and dance, with a text by Caryl Churchill and music by Orlando Gough.

This is a Chair (Royal Court Theatre, 1997), a short play about the surreal nature of modern life.

Blue Heart (Out of Joint & Royal Court Theatre, 1997), two linked one-act plays, both startlingly innovative, exploring the underpinnings of family relationships.

Far Away (Royal Court, 2000), a brilliantly unsettling play about conflict and its unsettling effect on our lives and humanity.

A Number (Royal Court, 2002), a fascinating meditation on human cloning, personal identity and the conflicting claims of nature and nurture.

Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (Royal Court, 2006),examining US foreign policy and international power politics through the lens of an intense personal relationship.

A Dream Play (National Theatre, London, 2005), a spare and resonant version of August Strindberg's 1901 masterpiece.

Caryl Churchill is a leading playwright who has written widely for the stage, television and radio. Her stage plays include: Owners (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1972); Objections to Sex and Violence (Royal Court, 1975); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (Joint Stock, 1976); Vinegar Tom (Monstrous Regiment, 1976); Traps (Royal Court, 1977); Cloud Nine (Joint Stock, 1979); Three More Sleepless Nights (Soho Poly and Royal Court, 1980); Top Girls (Royal Court, 1982); Fen (Joint Stock, 1983); Softcops (RSC, 1984); A Mouthful of Birds with David Lan (Joint Stock, 1986); Serious Money (Royal Court and Wyndham's, London, then Public Theater, New York, 1987); Icecream (Royal Court, 1989); Mad Forest (Central School of Speech and Drama, then Royal Court, 1990); Lives of the Great Poisoners with Orlando Gough and Ian Spink (Second Stride, 1991); The Skriker (Royal National Theatre, 1994); Thyestes translated from Seneca (Royal Court, 1994); Hotel with Orlando Gough and Ian Spink (Second Stride, 1997); This is a Chair (Royal Court, 1997); Blue Heart (Joint Stock, 1997); Far Away (Royal Court, 2000, and Albery, London, 2001, then New York Theatre Workshop, 2002); A Number (Royal Court, 2002, then New York Theatre Workshop, 2004); A Dream Play after Strindberg (Royal National Theatre, 2005); Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (Royal Court, 2006, then Public Theater, New York, 2008); Bliss, translated from Olivier Choinière (Royal Court, 2008); Seven Jewish Children – a play for Gaza (Royal Court, 2009); Love and Information (Royal Court, 2012); Ding Dong the Wicked (Royal Court, 2012); Here We Go (National Theatre, 2015); Escaped Alone (Royal Court, 2016), Pigs and Dogs (Royal Court, 2016), Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. (Royal Court, 2019) and What If If Only (Royal Court, 2021).