Caryl Churchill Plays: Four

Caryl Churchill

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781854595409
• eBook ISBN: 9781780013039
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

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.

BLUE HEART

Blue Heart was first produced by Out of Joint and the Royal Court Theatre at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, on 14 August 1997. It was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on 19 August 1997 and opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 17 September 1997, with the following cast:

Heart’s Desire	Blue Kettle
	MOTHER	Gabrielle Blunt
SUZY	ENID	Jacqueline Defferary
YOUNG WOMAN		Karina Fernandez
BRIAN	MR VANE	Bernard Gallagher
ALICE	MRS PLANT	Valerie Lilley
MAISIE	MRS OLIVER	Mary Macleod
	MRS VANE	Eve Pearce
LEWIS	DEREK	Jason Watkins
	MISS CLARENCE	Anna Wing
CHILDREN		Played by local children
Director	Max Stafford-Clark
Designer	Julian McGowan
Lighting Designer	Johanna Town
Sound Designer	Paul Arditti
The same production was revived for an international tour in 1998, with the following cast changes:
Heart’s Desire	Blue Heart
SUZY	ENID	Sally Rogers
YOUNG WOMAN		Kirsty Bushell
BRIAN	MR VANE	Ewan Hooper
	MRS VANE	Doreen Mantle
LEWIS	DEREK	Pearce Quigley

The production received its American premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, on 27 Jan 1999, with the same cast.

Heart’s Desire

Characters

BRIAN

ALICE

MAISIE

SUSY

LEWIS

LOTS OF CHILDREN

TWO GUNMEN

YOUNG AUSTRALIAN WOMAN

OFFICIAL

BIRD

Brian and Alice are married. Maisie is Brian’s sister.
They are all about 60. Susy, their daughter, is 35,
Lewis, their son, is younger.

The scene is Brian and Alice’s kitchen.

	ALICE and MAISIE. ALICE setting knives and forks on table, MAISIE fidgets about the room. BRIAN enters putting on a red sweater.
BRIAN	She’s taking her time.
ALICE	Not really.
	They all stop, BRIAN goes out. Others reset to beginning and do exactly what they did before as BRIAN enters putting on a tweed jacket.
BRIAN	She’s taking her time.
ALICE	Not really.
	They all stop, BRIAN goes out, others reset and BRIAN enters putting on an old cardigan.
BRIAN	She’s taking her time.
ALICE	Not really.
BRIAN	We should have met the plane.
ALICE	We should not.
MAISIE	What I really envy her for is the fauna because it’s down a completely separate branch of evolu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Hotel
• This is a Chair
• Blue Heart
• Far Away
• A Number
• A Dream Play
• Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information