Here We Go / Escaped Alone: Two Plays

by Caryl Churchill

"What Churchill has written is a striking memento mori for an age without faith; and although her play is brief, that in itself evokes the idea that we are here for a short time and then are suddenly gone."— The Guardian on Here We Go "Line by line it's hard to imagine you'll come across a more brilliant play this year . . . and what makes Escaped Alone a great play is that it is strangely spiked with terrible, apocalyptic foreboding, yes, but Churchill's funniest since Serious Money , and with an incredible gift for spinning light out of the dark."— Time Out London on Escaped Alone The prolific repertoire of Caryl Churchill gains two thrilling new entries with Here We Go and Escaped Alone , both exemplary of her notoriously dark, witty work. Creeping and ruminative, Here We Go "acts as a chilling reminder of our own mortality" ( The Guardian ), with a three-part examination of death and its aftermath. Escaped Alone considers a notably broader the apocalypse. Through the musings of four older women idly chatting in an English back garden, the fate of the world is outlined in an unsettling revelation of mankind's own self-destruction. Caryl Churchill has written for the stage, television, and radio. A renowned and prolific playwright, her plays include Cloud Nine , Top Girls , Far Away , Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? , Bliss , Love and Information , Mad Forest , and A Number . In 2002, she received the Obie Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2010, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Genres: Plays

60 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2016

About the author

Caryl Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, dramatisation of the abuses of power, and exploration of sexual politics.[1] She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and one of world theatre's most influential writers.

Her early work developed Bertolt Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques of 'Epic theatre' to explore issues of gender and sexuality. From A Mouthful of Birds (1986) onwards, she began to experiment with forms of dance-theatre, incorporating techniques developed from the performance tradition initiated by Antonin Artaud with his 'Theatre of Cruelty'. This move away from a clear Fabel dramaturgy towards increasingly fragmented and surrealistic narratives characterises her work as postmodernist.

Prizes and awards

Churchill has received much recognition, including the following awards:

1958 Sunday Times/National Union of Students Drama Festival Award Downstairs
1961 Richard Hillary Memorial Prize
1981 Obie Award for Playwriting, Cloud Nine
1982 Obie Award for Playwriting, Top Girls
1983 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (runner-up), Top Girls
1984 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Fen
1987 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year, Serious Money
1987 Obie Award for Best New Play, Serious Money
1987 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Serious Money
1988 Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play, Serious Money
2001 Obie Sustained Achievement Award
2010 Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Plays

Downstairs (1958)
You've No Need to be Frightened (1959?)
Having a Wonderful Time (1960)
Easy Death (1960)
The Ants, radio drama (1962)
Lovesick, radio drama (1969)
Identical Twins (1960)
Abortive, radio drama (1971)
Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen, radio drama (1971)
Owners (1972)
Schreber's Nervous Illness, radio drama (1972) – based on Memoirs of My Nervous Illness
The Hospital at the Time of the Revolution (written 1972)
The Judge's Wife, radio drama (1972)
Moving Clocks Go Slow, (1973)
Turkish Delight, television drama (1973)
Objections to Sex and Violence (1975)
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1976) [7]
Vinegar Tom (1976)
Traps (1976)
The After-Dinner Joke, television drama (1978)
Seagulls (written 1978)
Cloud Nine (1979)
Three More Sleepless Nights (1980)
Top Girls (1982)
Crimes, television drama (1982)
Fen (1983)
Softcops (1984)
A Mouthful of Birds (1986)
A Heart's Desire (1987)[18]
Serious Money (1987)
Ice Cream (1989)
Hot Fudge (1989)
Mad Forest (1990)
Lives of the Great Poisoners (1991)
The Skriker (1994)
Blue Heart (1997)
Hotel (1997)
This is a Chair (1999)
Far Away (2000)
Thyestes (2001) – translation of Seneca's tragedy
A Number (2002)
A Dream Play (2005) – translation of August Strindberg's play
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (2006)
Seven Jewish Children – a play for Gaza (2009)
Love and Information (2012)
Ding Dong the Wicked (2013)
Here We Go (play) (2015)

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryl_Ch...

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Churchill is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and eclectic of contemporary playwrights, but lately her plays have become more and more spare, definitely in a more Beckett-ian vein. These, her two latest short pieces, examine mortality, regret and violence, both internal and within society.

[Yourfiendmrjones · Rating 3 out of 5]

These, I would need to see produced to truly understand them.

[Tzu-Mainn Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me preface this review by saying - emphasizing - that it represents my own personal opinion; other readers may find Churchill’s stylings more appealing. With that being said, well… I’m not a huge fan.

The fundamental disconnect, I think, is that I expect plays to be stories: characters and arcs and plots. “Here We Go” and “Escaped Alone” have different techniques for expressing their themes. There are rapid stream-of-consciousness back-and-forths between individuals; there are panicked monologues; there are implied ideas grown through disjointed words and actions. It’s not… ineffective, although it makes for very confusing reading on the page. There it feels like disjointed verse - and a little bit like rhyme magnets tossed randomly against the refrigerator.

So I went onto YouTube and watched some snippets of these plays. And… I kinda got it. There is a power in what Churchill has written; an impressionistic flood of emotion that pushes through a strong sensation. My problem was that I felt like I was being blasted with the message rather than being given a path in to understand it on my own terms. The plays didn’t feel like stories; they felt like performance art.

There’s nothing wrong with performance art; it’s just maybe not my thing. And these plays weren’t my thing either.

[Gabriel Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

One can see some similar techniques from Love and Information employed effectively, if not hauntingly, in "Here We Go." For anyone who has attended calling hours or a funeral, the first act is emblematic of the often-mosaic memories that one can recall from such an event. Meanwhile, the show forces each audience member to consider their impending death. The second act monologue is as sparse as it is sprawling, yet it manages to demand meaningful introspection. The final act could certainly be viewed as nihilistic and/or existential; thus, Churchill again captures all of humanity -- this time in a dialogue-free scene. Who else can achieve that?

"Escaped Alone" was disarming at first and, like her other works, only became clearer throughout the show. Mrs. Jarrett's interstitial monologues helped root the show in a horrifying world. Within the world, however, were women who gathered to joke and confide with each other. Whether or not the women were always outwardly empathetic, they still managed to find community amidst their apocalyptic environment.

[Richard Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mysterious- the staging would be interesting.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first time I have read a play written in this style. While confusing at first, it does begin to make sense as it goes along. Looking forward to watching them performed somewhere.

[Amazon · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Theodore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes bro I love escaped alone. This shit is peak.