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Caryl Churchill

CARYL CHURCHILL

  (1938 - )
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd  

Playwright Caryl Churchill was born on 3 September 1938 in London and grew up in the Lake District and in Montreal. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read English. Downstairs, her first play, was written while she was still at university, was first staged in 1958 and won an award at the Sunday Times National Union of Students Drama Festival. She wrote a number of plays for BBC radio including the ants (1962), Lovesick (1967) and abortive (1971). the Judge's Wife was televised by the BBC in 1972 and Owners, her first professional stage production, premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in the same year.
British Council

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below is a list of Caryl Churchill's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Abortive         After-Dinner Joke, The         Angel         Ants, The         Baron Sunday         Bliss         Blue Heart         Blue Kettle         Cloud Nine         Comic Strips From the Chinese         Crimes         Dancing         Ding Dong the Wicked         Downstairs         Dream Play, A         Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?         Easy Death         Eight Rooms         Eleventh Hour         Escaped Alone         F E N         Far Away         Fen         Finnsburg Fragment         Floorshow         Fugue         Gold Shoes         Having A Wonderful Time         Heart's Desire         Henry's Pest         Herculine Barbin         Here We Go         Hospital At the Time Of the Revolution, The         Hot Fudge         Hot Summer         Hotel, In A Room Anything Can Happen         Ice Cream         Identical Twins         Iraq.doc         Judge's Wife, The         Lee         Legion Hall Bombing         Light Shining In Buckinghamshire         Lives Of the Great Poisoners         Loonies, The         Love And Information         Lovesick         Mad Forest         Marriage Of Toby's Idea Of Angela And Toby's Idea Of Angela's Idea Of Tony         Midday Sun         Mouthful Of Birds, A         Moving Clocks Go Slow         Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen         Number, A         Number, A         Objections To Sex And Violence         Owners         Perfect Happiness         Pig         Psychic Attack         Save It For the Minister         Schreber's Nervous Illness         Seagulls         Serious Money         Seven Jewish Children - A Play For Gaza         Skriker, The         Softcops         Swimming Club, The         This Is A Chair         Three More Sleepness Nights         Thyestes         Tickets Are on Sale Now         Top Girls         Top Girls         Traps         Turkish Delight         Two Nights         Vinegar Tom         You've No Need To Be Frightened
Abortive

Abortive
Roz and Colin talk about Roz's rape and subsequent abortion. they find that they are both ambivalent about it all.

Notes:
Radio play directed by John Tydeman.

1st Produced:
Bbc Radio Three     1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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After-Dinner Joke, The

After-Dinner Joke, The
Selby is a secretary at a big company. She moves to the charity division as she wishes to do good and ends up running the department. Her colleague wants to promote hard hitting, yet inoffensive publicity campaigns but these all get vetoed or scuppered by central or local governments. Selby goes to a country devastated by a hurricane and promptly gets kidnapped by guerrillas. the story is interspersed with short sketches: a thief steals money for charity and is angry when they wont accept it; a Sheik buys Marks and Spencer and local dignitaries enter a pie throwing contest.

Notes:
"Play For Today" Season 8 programme 17. Directed by Colin Bucksey

1st Produced:
Bbc 1     1978

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  16            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Angel

Synopsis:
an angel accompanies some people

Notes:
Never made

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Television play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ants, The

Synopsis:
a boy, Tim, sits on a terrace watching his friends the ants. Tim and his mother Jane, are staying with her father, they are expecting Tim's Father Stewart to visit them. they are to be divorced, Jane wants Tim to come and live with her; so does his father. Jane wants the ants destroyed she asks that if petrol is poured into their nest and set alight would that get rid of them. Tim is aghast he loves the ants. Stewart arrives and he and Jane go for a walk. Somewhere there is a war going on and "we" have killed ten thousand of "them". Jane and Stewart look as if they are being friendly to each other when they return but a big argument over who should have Tim blows up and Stewart leaves. the grandFather gets petrol and sets fire to the ant nest much to Tim's glee.

Notes:
Written As A television play Caryl Churchill's Agent persuaded her to have it produced on radio.

1st Produced:
Bbc Third Programme     1962

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: Radio Plays - New English Dramatists 12" published by Penguin Books, 1968   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Baron Sunday

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bliss

Bliss
"From the other side, I'm looking at you. You're looking at me. We smile at each other." Welcome to Walmart. a cashier and her fellow workers flick through celebrity gossip magazines on a break. 'see YOU LaTeR, CeLINe' says a headline. What's wrong with Celine? Why is she turning her back on her glamorous public life, her adoring fans? and how is her story connected to the story of an unknown woman on the facing page? It's not. Until Caro intervenes. This wild and slippery fantasy from Quebecois writer Olivier Choiniere explores our insatiable appetite for private lives made public.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Olivier Choiniere

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Blue Heart

Blue Heart
Blue Heart consists of two related short plays in which nothing is what it seems

Notes:
"Blue Heart" is the overall title for A double bill of one Act plays: "Blue Kettle" And "Heart's Desire"

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds     1997

Organisations:

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Two 1 acts One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Blue Kettle

Blue Kettle
Forty-year-old Derek is a con-man who sets out to convince a series of women that he is the son they gave up for adoption. But something catastrophic is happening which disrupts and destroys the very fabric of their world.

Notes:
part of Blue Heart

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds     1987

Organisations:

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Cloud Nine

Cloud Nine
1870 British Imperial Africa a hotbed of secrets and liaisons. Colonial administrator, Clive tries to impose Victorian values on his family - he is appalled that his son wants to play with dolls and he expects his wife and servant to obey him. He discovers that Harry Bagley, the explorer, is gay and insists that he marries the governess although Clive does not know that she is a lesbian. It is the case that boys will be girls and girls will be boys with the casting. Betty, Clive's wife is played by a man; Edward his son is played by a woman; the black servant by a white actor and Victoria, the daughter, by a doll. act two takes place in London in 1979 with characters from act One who think it is only twenty-five years later. apart from a little girl played by a man all characters are played by the right sex. Edward is gay and has a lover, Gerry. Victoria has a female admirer. Clive has died. Betty is being haunted by her younger self. "It is all passion and Throbbing bodices, heat and parasols and over the top dialogue and very, very funny." Lizzie Loveridge in "Curtain Up"

Notes:
1st published Pluto Press, London, 1979

1st Produced:
Dartington College Of Arts, Devon     1979

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Comic Strips From the Chinese

Synopsis:
Philosophy of Lieh-tzu and power struggles circa 600 BC.

Notes:
not Available for performance

1st Produced:
Unproduced     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
15 scenes One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Crimes

Synopsis:
the future - 2002. Prisons are full to bursting. a leading criminal psychiatrist has taken home recordings of some of the sessions he has had with various prisoners and he watches them whilst his wife agitates about their forthcoming house move. the session he watches is with Jane, Ron and elliot. Jane is a murderer and arsonist. She has had an electronic implant and this has turned her into a model prisoner. Ron is in prison because of his love of the countryside. City dwellers are only allowed into designated areas of the countryside - but Ron kept wandering off and getting arrested by police patrols. eliot is on hunger strike but will not talk about himself. He tells the story of a neighbour arrested for not obeying the police. She had refused to go indoors when they, the police were beating up a suspect. Melvyn turns the recording off and his wife reminds him it is time to watch the Government programme "Select and Survive" which gives handy hints on bunker construction.

Notes:
"Play For Tomorrow" Season One programme one. Directed by Stuart Burge

1st Produced:
Bbc     1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dancing

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ding Dong the Wicked

Ding Dong the Wicked
A child is shut in her room, a dog is dead in the road, someone is kissing her brother in law. A family locked in hatred is sending a son to war. And meanwhile in another country. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
30 min play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:

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Downstairs

Synopsis:
Susan tells her son Ted to end his relationship with Catherine, the girl who lives downstairs in their block of flats. Ted murders Catherine

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Oxford     1958

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dream Play, A

Dream Play, A
Written in 1901, a mysterious amalgam of Freud, Alice in Wonderland and Strindberg's own private symbolism, a Dream Play follows the logic of a dream: a young woman comes from another world to see if life is really as difficult as people make it out to be. Characters merge into each other, locations change in an instant and a locked door becomes an obsessive recurrent image. as Strindberg wrote in his preface, he wanted 'to imitate the disjointed yet seemingly logical shape of a dream. everything can happen, everything is possible and probable. Time and place do not exist.'. From a literal translation by Charlotte Barslund. Introduction by Caryl Churchill.

Notes:
Original Playwright - August Strindberg. tr. Caryl Churchill, Adap. Katie Mitchell And the company

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre, London

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  with doubling, lrger cast possible

Further Reference:

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Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?

Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?
Jack leaves his family in Britain and moves in with Sam in New York. Jack will do anything for Sam. But who is in control? Who wont show his true feelings? are we watching Uncle Sam and Union Jack or George W and Tony Blair? "To the old sayings 'all's fair in love and war and 'Love is war' she [Churchill] now appends the query, is love war?" Les Gutman "Curtain Up" March 14th 2008

Notes:
In the American version Jack became Guy

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Drama, 55 min Play/Drama. - - Gay, one act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Easy Death

Synopsis:
Two plots on aspects of happiness combine in third act

Notes:
partly in verse

1st Produced:
Oxford     1962

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Eight Rooms

Eight Rooms
-

Notes:
Performed under the overall title: "the Hotel"

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  13 singers, 3 musicians, 2 dancers

Further Reference:

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Eleventh Hour

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Escaped Alone

Escaped Alone
I'm walking down the street and there's a door in the fence open and inside there are three women I've seen before. Three old friends and a neighbour. A summer of afternoons in the back yard. Tea and catastrophe.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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F E N

Synopsis:
Two former students of a strict religious school return to seek revenge on their teachers who had made their lives a misery.

Notes:
Written with Avelino Hernandez N?nez. Directed by Antonio Hernandez. In Spanish

1st Produced:
Micra Film Production (Spain)     1980

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Movie Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Far Away

Far Away
Joan has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle. Her aunt, Harper, looks in on her and finds she is awake. It slowly comes out that Joan has climbed out of her bedroom window and watched her uncle murdering people in the garden shed. Some years later Joan works for a hat maker she is friendly with co-worker Todd. the hats they make are elaborate ones worn by prisoners on their way to execution. Some years later and the World is at war. a war like no other even animals are involved and there are odd alliances and groupings - horses, French cats, Portuguese taxi-drivers, Latvian dentists. Todd is staying with Harper. Joan has escaped from the fighting and joined them. "Caryl Churchill's Far away is a terrible play, the Yeatsian sense of terrible beauty." the Sunday Times

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Royal Court production presented byambassador Theatre Group and Old Vic Productions

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play, 50 min One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Fen

Fen
a Japanese business is pleased at the purchase of land in east anglia. Women labourers from a nearby village - bent double - pick potatoes and sing. Drifting back and forth through time the lives of women farm labourers are told. Val who has left her husband and daughters for another man. She yearns for her children but cannot leave Frank and decides that either herself or Frank must die to solve their problem. a ghost berates a farmer for selling the land she used to toil on. Is one of the workers an hermaphrodite? "Yet another confirmation that its author possess one of the boldest theatrical imaginations to emerge in this decade" Frank Rich "the New York Times" May 31st 1983

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
University Of Essex Theatre, Essex     1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  22 characters

Further Reference:

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Finnsburg Fragment

Synopsis:
the anglo-Saxon story of Finn, Hengest and Hildeburh

Notes:
Based on "Beowulf" And "the Finnsburg Fragment"

1st Produced:
Unproduced And Unavailable For Performance     1961

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Floorshow

Synopsis:
Sketches and lyrics for cabaret about women and work

Notes:
written with others

1st Produced:
London     1977

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Cabaret Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fugue

Synopsis:
the effects of death on a family

Notes:
Part of the "Dancelines" series. Directed And choreographed by Ian Spink. Music Bach's "Contrapunctus 10" from "the Art of the Fugue"

1st Produced:
Channel Four     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
TV Dance Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gold Shoes

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Having A Wonderful Time

Synopsis:
Paul narrates tales from his holiday in France.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Questors Theatre, Ealing     1960

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
8 scenes One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Heart's Desire

Heart's Desire
the long-anticipated return of a daughter from Australia by her parents and aunt is rehearsed over and over with different variations and outcomes - some comic, some brutal, some simply astonishing

Notes:
part of Blue Heart

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds     1987

Organisations:

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  children

Further Reference:

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Henry's Pest

Synopsis:
In the past Henry attacked and maimed Geoffrey. Geoffrey is now confined to a wheelchair and has married Henry's ex-wife.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bbc Radio Three     1972

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play Play/Drama

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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-

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Herculine Barbin

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Here We Go

Here We Go
A funeral party for a man with an adventurous past and a ginger cat that needs a home. Where is he now? Is his heart lighter than a feather? How did he die? And what happens to his friends? A short play about death

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
short play 45 min

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

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-

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Hospital At the Time Of the Revolution, The

Hospital At the Time Of the Revolution, The
Fanon is the head of the psychiatric wing of an algerian hospital in 1956. His patients are mainly French torturers and their algerian victims. a middle aged French couple bring their seventeen year old daughter to see him. the daughter has been refusing to eat and threw a cup of coffee at her mother. Inspired by the life and work of Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), the Martinique-born psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose best known works include Black Skin, White Masks and his masterpiece the Wretched of the earth. Algeria, 1956 a country desperately fighting for independence from French colonial rule.? Frantz Fanon is head of the psychiatric department of the Blida-Joinville hospital in Algiers, treating both oppressed and oppressor. But who are the real victims? A civil servant presents his psychologically disturbed daughter to the hospital for assessment and insists on her admittance. An inspector demands treatment for his helpless violence against his own wife and child. Three in-patient revolutionaries are delusional and paranoid. these products of a broken society are beginning to show symptoms, how should they be treated? the Hospital At the Time Of the Revolution is a forensic insight into the adjustment of morality for the sake of conscience.

Notes:
the multi-award-winning Finborough theatre presents the world premiere of Caryl Churchill's remarkable 1972 play the Hospital At the Time Of the Revolution. Caryl Churchill gratefully acknowledges that the play draws material from the Wretched of the earth by Frantz Fanon, "Les Damnes De La Terre", c editions La Decouverte, Paris, France.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

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Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  2            Other:  -

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Hot Fudge

Hot Fudge
Matt and Ruby have a scam to defraud banks and building societies of money. they invite their friends to join them in the scam. Meanwhile, Ruby has met Colin and has told him that she is a high class travel agent - which she is not. Colin has told her that he is a high-flyer in the City when in fact he works from home. When Ruby introduces Colin to her friends they go along with her travel agent story and make inquiries about trips. Colin takes Ruby back to his flat. His (possibly) ex-wife turns up and they come to blows - knocking each other down. at the end Ruby and Colin are still trying to get together.

Notes:
New York 1990

1st Produced:
Reading At Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London     1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

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Hot Summer

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hotel, In A Room Anything Can Happen

Hotel, In A Room Anything Can Happen
Hotel is in two parts: In the first, eight Rooms, fourteen people - tourists, couples and business people - spend an ordinary night in a hotel. But they all occupy the same space, their stories overlapping and interweaving and creating an exhilarating collage of words, voices, music and choreographed movement. In the second, a dance piece entitled Two Nights, we see two distinct nights happening at the same time. Two people find different ways to disappear, while a diary found in another hotel room tells of one more extraordinary disappearance.

Notes:
an innovative theatre piece combining music, voices And dance, with A text by Caryl Churchill And music by Orlando Gough

1st Produced:
Second Stride, Schauspielhaus, Hannover     1997

Organisations:
Second Stride

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Jazz Opera Opera

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  8            Other:  2 pianists, 1 double bassist

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Ice Cream

Ice Cream
an unsettling look at British attitudes to America and vice versa, from one of our leading Dramatists. 'the idea of Oregon, the word, just the word Oregon really thrills me'. 'you can't help loving england. the green fields. the accents. the pubs.' Set half in the UK and half in the US, Icecream tells the story of two couples - an American man and wife and an english brother and sister. Implicated in each other's lives more than any of them would wish, their respective love affairs with each other's countries prove difficult to explain.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

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Identical Twins

Synopsis:
Teddy and Clive are identical twins and have always been confused one for the other. Clive commits suicide and Teddy takes over Clive's lover, children and farm.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bbc Radio Three     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Iraq.doc

Synopsis:
Based on transcripts from web blogs and chatrooms on the Iraq War - from nuke the camel fuckers to brining retaliation to London.

Notes:
Performed with "advice to Iraqi Women" by Martin Crimp And "Only We That Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy" by Tony Kushner

1st Produced:
Royal Court, London     2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Judge's Wife, The

Judge's Wife, The
a judge has condemned a terrorist, Vernon Warren his identical twin brother, Michael, has vowed revenge. the judge goes home to his wife, Caroline and sister-in-law, Barbara. Barbara tells him that he has sold out and that his is now just an old very right wing bigot. During the evening and their meal the judge receives telephone calls, they are all from Michael. He agrees to meeting Michael. Michael takes the judge to a wood and shoots him. Caroline tells Barbara that the judge was just pretending to be a right wing bigot. " 'the Judge's Wife' was in short one of those plays which leave the critic with a strong sense of frustration" Patrick Campbell "the Stage" October 5th 1972.

Notes:
"Thirty Minute theatre" Season eight programme 259. Directed by James Ferman

1st Produced:
Bbc 2     1972

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lee

Synopsis:
When her lover Sarah is killed, Vin believes that Sarah's Father was the culprit because she is black. She and an employee of the father, Lee start a campaign of harassment.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act. - - Lesbian, one act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Legion Hall Bombing

Synopsis:
Two unnamed men who are already serving prison sentences are put on trial for the bombing of the British Legion Hall in Strabane. the trial is held under the Diplock Commission rules - being tried by a judge alone and no jury. the witnesses state that a masked man with a gun (accused Man Number One) and an unmasked man with a box of explosives (accused Man Number Two) entered the hall during a whist drive on January 21st 1975. the defence counsel argues that the unmasked bomber could not be his client as he does not match the description given. the first witness contradicts the description and she also refuses to answer certain questions. the next witness states that the unmasked bomber was not accused Two. the judge refuses to dismiss the charge and the trial continues. the detective sergeant is questioned over the confessions made by the two men. there are many discrepancies in the statements. the defence counsel says that the accused were asked to confess to other crimes and it was only later that they discovered they had "confessed" to the Legion Hall bombing. accused Number One refuses to testify but Number Two does. He says that he was never asked by the police about the bombing and that he was in LimErick at the time but he cannot produce any witnesses to back this up. the defence council says that there has never been a conviction after a witness has stated positively that the accused was not the person he had seen. the judge rejects the evidence of the witness and sentences accused Man Number One to three concurrent sentences of 8, 12 and 10 years on the charges and accused Man Number Two to 10, 12 and 10 years, making sentences of 12 years each.

Notes:
"Play For Today" Season 8 programme 18. Directed by Roland Joffe. Both Caryl Churchill And Roland Joffe had their names removed from the credits due to cuts made by the BBC to the programme.

1st Produced:
Bbc     1978

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
TV Historical

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Light Shining In Buckinghamshire

Light Shining In Buckinghamshire
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire depicts the Diggers and Ranters during the english Civil War, and their last desperate burst of revolutionary feeling before the restoration. 'even more than an immediately impressive exercise in historical Drama, the play deals in the rawness of life during the Civil War and the crazy mixture of ideals and half-truths which led a group of free-loving pantheistic communists to set their standard against the standard of the false revolution of Cromwell's parliamentarians'
- Steve Grant

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  or more

Further Reference:
-

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Lives Of the Great Poisoners

Lives Of the Great Poisoners
the stories of Medea, Doctor Crippen and Mme de Brinvilliers all famous poisoners. Dr Crippen is having friends over for the evening including his lodger Thomas Midgeley who invented leaded petrol and Marie Lloyd the Music Hall entertainer. Crippen leaves the party to visit ethel Le Neve his mistress. Crippen seemingly poisons his wife and tries to get to America to escape justice. Medea plans to poison Cruesa. She has had a poisoned dress made and Midgeley is on hand to take the garment to the victim. In Paris the card game Hoca is all the rage. the aristocracy wager huge amounts of money. Midgeley gets caught up in the gambling. Mme de Brinvilliers is slowly poisoning her husband. Who is the greatest poisoner? Thomas Midgeley his leaded petrol killed far more than the "Famous Poisoners"

Notes:
music by Orlando Gough, choreography by Ian Spink. Performed by Actors, dancers And singers. the Actors spoke, the dancers danced And the singers sang their parts

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Second Stride

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Libretto Opera

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  minimum

Further Reference:
-

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Loonies, The

Synopsis:
Rose and Eric were once patients at a psychiatric hospital but now live together. Rose leaves Eric for George who finds her "madness" exciting

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Television play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Love And Information

Love And Information
Someone sneezes. Someone can't get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won't answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone's not ready to talk. Someone is her brother's mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone's never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lovesick

Lovesick
a psychiatrist, Doctor Hodge has used aversion therapy to change ellen's sexual preferences.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bbc Third Programme     1967

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play/Drama. - - Gay, theme/character, one act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mad Forest

Mad Forest
the play is in three parts. Part One: Before the Romanian Revolution. Ceausescu is in power. the Securiate keep a strangle hold on the population everyone is in fear of being overheard or shopped to the authorities. Bogdan and Irina Vladu have two daughters and a son. Lucia, Florina and Gabriel. Lucia is to marry an American which brings the family to the notice of the Securitate. Bogdan is demoted at work and told by the Securitate that he must report on what his fellow workers are doing and saying. Gabriel is also approached by them. Part Two: Various participants in the Revolution tell their stories of what happened. Part Three: after the over throw of Ceausescu. the Vladu family have to adjust to the new way of life. How do you live freely? Irina arrives back from the United States. Florina marries Radu an art student.

Notes:
Caryl Churchill's play About the Romanian revolution was written After she, the director And A group of students from London's Central School of Speech And Drama went to Romania to work with Acting students there. the play was first performed in 1990, only three months After their return.

1st Produced:
Central School Of Speech And Drama, London     1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  or more

Further Reference:
-

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Marriage Of Toby's Idea Of Angela And Toby's Idea Of Angela's Idea Of Tony

Synopsis:
Marriage and its expectations, with puppets, dummies and masks

Notes:
not Available for performance

1st Produced:
Unproduced     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Nine scenes Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Midday Sun

Synopsis:
the theme is tourism. We see four British visitors on a Moroccan beach being pestered and puzzled by a native beggar and wondering what they are themselves doing there and what a diffence there is between them and the Moroccan way of life.
Eric Shorter, Daily Telegraph

Notes:
written by Caryl Churchill, Geraldine Pilgrim, Pete Brooks, John Ashford

1st Produced:
ICA, London >>>     1984

Organisations:
ICa Theatre and Fairgroud '84

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mouthful Of Birds, A

Mouthful Of Birds, A
a collaborative piece written with David Lan, combining words and dance. Inspired by euripides' Bacchae, the play explores modern experiences of 'possession, violence and other states where people feel beside themselves' (Caryl Churchill, from her introduction to the published volume).

Notes:
written by Caryl Churchill And David Lan - Psychic Attack; Baron Sunday; Dancing; Pig; Herculine Barbin; Gold Shoes; Hot Summer

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Dance Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  doubling (large cast possible)

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Moving Clocks Go Slow

Synopsis:
Mick and Vivienne live in a tower block. the year is 2010 and the world is short of food and oxygen. their son Claude plans to kill himself.

Notes:
written 1973

1st Produced:
Theatre Upstairs, London     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Sci-Fi

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen

Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bbc Radio Three     1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Number, A

Number, A
Salter a man in his sixties is visited by Bernard his 35 year old son. Bernard. Bernard is a clone. He was cloned from Salter's son when the son - also called Bernard - was killed in a car crash that also took the life of his wife. Bernard Number Two has discovered that the doctor who did the cloning made many more copies. Salter then has another visitor - it is the original Bernard who is now forty years old. Bernard did not die in the car crash. after the crash Salter became dissatisfied with him and had him cloned thinking that the new son would be better. This Bernard is somewhat unbalanced, he has murdered Bernard Number Two. another visitor for Salter, this time it is another clone - Michael. Michael is married and he talks about his wife. Bernard Number One has committed suicide and Salter is unhappy. Michael tells him that there are another nineteen clones but Salter says that none of them will be like either of the Bernards. "We've got ninety-nine percent the same genes as any other person. We've got ninety percent the same as a chimpanzee. We've got thirty percent the same as a lettuce. ..I love about the lettuce" 'Part psychological thriller, part topical scientific speculation, and part analysis of the relationship between fathers and their sons, it combines elegant structural simplicity with an astonishing intellectual and emotional depth. . .What a tremendous play this is, moving thought-provoking and Dramatically thrilling' Daily Telegraph

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  1 male plays three parts

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Number, A

Synopsis:
Television version of the stage play "a Number". "BBC2 dropped to fewer than 600,00viewers on Wednesday night for the latest of its stage play adaptations. . . . .drew an average of just 561,000 between 9pm and 10.10pm" Neil Weekes, IMDb

Notes:
Directed by James MacDonald

1st Produced:
Bbc Films     2008

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Objections To Sex And Violence

Synopsis:
a day on the beach. Jule seems to be involved in a terrorist plot to bomb civilians. Her sister annie having read about it has come to help her get away but Jule is involved with a man she has met and does not want to. arthur and Madge a middle aged couple are also on the beach. arthur tries unsuccessfully to look at a girlie magazine hidden behind his newspaper. Miss Forbes in her sixties has come to the beach to relive an incident from her past but having arrived thinks she has come to the wrong place.

Notes:
written 1974

1st Produced:
Royal Court Theatre, London     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays by Women 4", Methuen, London, 1985   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Owners

Synopsis:
Clegg owns a butcher shop but he is about to close down because his wife, Marion, a property dealer has bought it and sold it for redevelopment. Clegg plots to kill his wife with Worsley who works for Marion and who is in love with her. Worsley attempts suicide over and over but is never successful. On one occasion he wants to jump off a building - a Samaritan who goes up to talk him down ends up jumping instead. Marion sends Worsley to a property that she has bought but wants the sitting tenants to move before she can sell it. When he arrives Worsley finds that the couple live there alec and Lisa have just been burgled. Lisa wants to get the police but alec is indifferent. Worsley offers Lisa money to leave but alec wants to remain. Marion starts a campaign of harassment to get them to go. then she discovers that alec is someone she had an affair with and she is determined to get him back. Lisa is pregnant and she offers her child to Marion but after the baby is born and handed over she changes her mind. Marion orders Worsley to burn the house down - he sees this as an opportunity to finally commit suicide. However, he only gets singed but alec dies in the fire. Worsley gives the baby back to Lisa. "Miss Churchill posses creative gifts that are almost singular among her contemporaries: a poetic imagination, an idiosyncratic vision of reality, and a sense of variousness in her characters, even when she clearly dislikes them." Robert Brustein "the Observer" December 17th 1972.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1973   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  2 extras

Further Reference:

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Perfect Happiness

Synopsis:
When her husband does not come home a wife invites two of his girlfriends over to find out where he might be.

Notes:
First broadcast on BBC Radio Three, 1972

1st Produced:
Soho Poly, London     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
lunchtime play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pig

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Psychic Attack

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "a Mouthful Of Birds" Methuen, London, 1986   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Save It For the Minister

Synopsis:
a black man and a white woman bring the discrimination grievances to the Minster for equal Rights

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bbc2     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Television play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Schreber's Nervous Illness

Schreber's Nervous Illness
the medical reports on and comments by Daniel Paul Schreber a nineteenth century judge who had schizophrenia.

Notes:
Broadcast BBC Radio Three 1972. Based on "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness" by Daniel Paul Schreber

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
lunchtime play

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seagulls

Seagulls
Valery has an unusual gift - she can move objects by will power. She is about to go to Harvard University for them to test her powers but in the meantime she has been touring theatres with a show to make money out of her powers. This is last show before Harvard. Valery agrees to meet a fan - an American called Cliff. Cliff has followed her career from the first newspaper report to now. Valery worries that her powers might be waning and this proves to be true. at the show she is unable to do anything. Valery and Di, her manager wonder whether a holiday might be in order before going to Harvard

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

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Serious Money

Serious Money
arbitrageurs with junk bonds and greenmail; white knights and corporate raiders; financial world of the 80's.

Notes:
lyrics by Ian Drury

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy/Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  20 roles

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Seven Jewish Children - A Play For Gaza

Seven Jewish Children - A Play For Gaza
even Jewish Children is Caryl Churchill's response to the situation in Gaza, as it was when the play was written in January 2009

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Short Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  any number of actors

Further Reference:

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Skriker, The

Skriker, The
the Skriker of english legend is 'a shape shifter and death portent, ancient and damaged'. In the play we follow in its search for love and revenge, as it pursues two young women to London, changing its shape at every new encounter. along with the Skriker come Rawheadandbloodybones, the Kelpie, the Green Lady, Black Dog and more, till the whole country is swarming with enticing and angry creatures that have burst from the underworld. the Skriker is an extraordinary play combining english folk tales with modern urban life in a physically and verbally stunning creation. In terms of its language alone, it is as exciting and challenging on the page as on the stage. "Leaving the theatre, you wonder how Caryl Churchill would have personified mad cow disease and the hole in the ozone layer" - Laura Hitchcock Curtain Up review.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre, London

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Myth

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  8            Other:  or more

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Softcops

Softcops
the boys from the school are brought by their Headmaster into town to watch an execution as it will be educational. the Headmaster is a strict disciplinarian and one boy is beaten publicly for stepping out of line. Vidocq is a criminal but he is asked to become the Chief of Police. Vidocq is a master of disguise and knows the criminal mind. Lacenaire is a murderer who is lauded and his exploits romanticised by the public. Pierre wants to reform the penal system. "the play is more illustrated lecture than Drama, though lots of 'Dramatic' things happen" Giles Gordon in "the Spectator" January 11th 1984.

Notes:
music by Nigel Hess

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  12            Female:  -            Other:  extras

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Swimming Club, The

Synopsis:
a fascist group comes to power and is opposed by Merrick who is then imprisoned by the regime

Notes:
Never made

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Television play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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This Is A Chair

This Is A Chair
a series of surreal sketches, each prefaced by a doom-laden tabloid style headline, This Is a Chair is at once modern and postmodern, tragedy and farce, about all and about nothing.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  or more

Further Reference:
-

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Three More Sleepness Nights

Three More Sleepness Nights
Margaret is in bed. Frank comes in after spending the evening at the pub. they argue loudly. She accuses him of seeing another woman; he says that he has stopped seeing her. He accuses her of flirting with his best friend. Pete and Dawn are in bed. Dawn cannot sleep and is restless. Pete tries to cheer her up by telling her the story of the film "aliens". Margaret has left Frank and moved in with Pete she hopes that this will be a new beginning for her but finds she is slipping into her old ways. "at least the show is brief. It is all over in an hour" Eric Shorter in "the Daily Telegraph"

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Soho Poly, London     1980

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Thyestes

Thyestes
a faithful and uncut translation from the Latin. the brothers, atreus and Thyestes rule jointly. Thyestes has had an affair with atreus' wife and has been banished with his sons. But atreus wants revenge. He makes friends with his brother but this is just to lure his nephews into his clutches. the unfortunate youngsters are roasted and served up as a stew for their father. "In spite of the powerful performances and the master theatrical craft, I am left with the question, "Why this play?" My tolerance for this sort of intellectually snobbish theatre is greater than most people's, but I cannot imagine why (director Joan) akalaitis would put such resources into this play" Randy Hardwick, chicagocritic.com

Notes:
Original Playwright - Seneca

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  -            Other:  plus 2 boys

Further Reference:
-

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Tickets Are on Sale Now

Synopsis:
a virtuosic linguistic exercise in which marketing-speak and greenwash infect a couple's conversation, poses a more troubling problem: how the very words we use can be co-opted without us realising it. - Guardian

Notes:
part of "Walking the Tightrope: The tension between art and politics"

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Offstage Theatre Production, in association with Theatre Uncut

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
10 min political play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

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Top Girls

Top Girls
Marlene has been promoted to be managing director of the Top Girls employment agency and to celebrate she invites various women to a meal in a restaurant. they are IsabElla Bird born in 1831 in Edinburgh who in her forties started travelling extensively around the world. Lady Nijo who was born in 1287 and was mistress to the emperor of Japan until she fell out of favour and became a travelling Buddhist nun. Dull Gret who was painted by Breughel. Pope Joan who had disguised herself as a man became a priest and was elected to the Pontificate. Patient Griselda who was in the "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer. the women eat and drink and talk of their lives. Back at work Marlene interviews Jeanine a new client and tells her of the jobs that are available. Marlene has a sister, Joyce and a niece angie, sixteen. angie tells her best friend she hates her aunt. Later angie turns up at the Top Girls office and tells her aunt she has come to live with her. Rosemary Kidd arrives. She is the wife of Howard who was also in the running for the managing director's job. Mrs. Kidd begs Marlene to stand aside and allow a man to take his rightful place. She tells Marlene she is unnatural to take a man's job. Marlene tells her to piss off. Marlene goes to visit Joyce, she has not been to see her sister for some time and she catches up on family and local news. the sisters quarrel over politics. Marlene is a strong supporter of Mrs. Thatcher, Joyce is most certainly not. "Caryl Churchill's first scene is like Shaw on an off-day; but thereafter the work builds to a superb emotion draining climax that sent me out of the theatre convinced that this is the best British play ever from a woman Dramatist". Michael Billington in "the Guardian"

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Top Girls

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Directed by Max Stafford-Clark

1st Produced:
Bbc     1991

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Traps

Traps
albert shares a flat with Jack and Syl. Jack is a left-wing activist and believes he is under surveillance from the police. Syl's baby keeps her awake with its crying. albert thinks he is having an extra-sensory relationship with his sitter, Christie. Christie arrives trying to escape her husband Reg. "a fascinating script, always several pages ahead of the audience" W Stephen Gilbert "Plays and Players" March 1977

Notes:
1st published by Pluto Press, London, 1978

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Turkish Delight

Synopsis:
Three women arrive at a fancy dress party - the ex-wife, the fiancee and the call girl. all are dressed in identical costumes. exotic eastern dancing girls are the man's fantasy

Notes:
Directed by Herbert Wise

1st Produced:
Bbc2     1974

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
TV Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Two Nights

Two Nights
-

Notes:
Performed under the overall title: "the Hotel"

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Dance Piece Dance Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Vinegar Tom

Synopsis:
a witch finder and his assistant hunt for witches. every woman is suspect and even normal activities will be looked on with suspicion and will be turned against them. and if the cattle get sick or crops fail. . . the accused are a woman healer, a young woman who had an abortion and some who rejected the advances of a local farmer who then became impotent. "'Vinegar Tom@ is a play about witches, but none of the characters portrayed is a witch ; it is a play that doesn't talk about hysteria, evil or demonic possession but about poverty, humiliation and prejudice, and the view which the women accused of witchcraft have of themselves" Caryl Churchill in an interview with Maggie Rose printed in "Sipario" 1987

Notes:
Revival At Cobden Club, London 2008 new musical score by Harry Blake

1st Produced:
Humberside Theatre, Hull     1976

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
TQ Publications, London, 1978   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play with Music

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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You've No Need To Be Frightened

Synopsis:
the wife finally relents and allows her husband to go climbing

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Unbroadcast     1959

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Radio Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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