Caryl Churchill Summary

Although it was obvious from her early radio play The Ants (1962) that Caryl Churchill could write good dialogue, she had difficulty translating that talent to a stage where she would be noticed. Neve... Read more

The interviewers Kathleen Betsko and Rachel Koenig are both American drama critics; Emily Mann is an American playwright. The following is taken from a two-part interview, first with Betsko and Koenig... Read more

Brown is an American educator and critic who specializes in feminist critical theory, concentrating on the relationship between gender and class. In the excerpted essay below, she argues that Top Girl... Read more

Below, Kalem offers a laudatory assessment of Fen's New York production, concluding: "The unifying element is a love story played out against a landscape of doom. " Tiny spires of... Read more

Rabillard is a Canadian educator and author of works on modern drama. In the following essay, she examines Fen within the context of "ecofeminism"—Churchill's attempt to &#... Read more

Cloud Nine was a collaborative effort between Churchill and the Joint Stock Company, whose director was Max Stafford-Clark. It received its first performances in the English provinces before moving to... Read more

In the following review, Caplan praises Churchill's writing and Kathryn Hunter's acting in The Skriker, but complains that the staging is too small in scale and that the direction and ch... Read more

In the following essay, Rabillard examines the concepts of feminism, ecology, and socialism in Churchill's Fen. I Caryl Churchill is, in the best sense, a playwright of ideas. In her early work... Read more

In the following essay, Aston discusses the collaboration and research techniques Churchill employed while writing Fen, Serious Money, and Mad Forest. Research has always been important to Caryl Churc... Read more

In the following essay, Reinelt analyzes the various theatrical forms and styles Churchill uses to challenge accepted norms in politics, economics, and race relations. Caryl Churchill is arguably the ... Read more

In the following laudatory review, Brustein praises Churchill's coupling of two plays Hot Fudge with Ice Cream. Ice Cream with Hot Fudge at the New York Public's Newman Theater is actual... Read more

In the following review, Weales lauds the political satire evident in Churchill's Mad Forest. In one of the most unusual and quietly theatrical scenes in Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, a ... Read more

In the following essay, Kritzer analyzes the theme of insanity in relation to self-identity and oppression in Churchill's Lovesick, Schreber's Nervous Illness, The Hospital at the Time o... Read more

Critical Essay by Clive Barnes [Churchill] is probably more popular in London than in N.Y. and—despite her strong political impulses—at times, accents and places apart, she proves more l... Read more

Critical Essay by John Simon The unsuccessful work of a gifted and pungent playwright, [Fen] is eminently watchable, full of sharp, stinging, tragicomic moments that, however, refuse to coalesce. Shap... Read more

Critical Essay by Rosalind Carne So intent is [Churchill in Softcops] on stating her message that every whiff of humour is imbued with a grim sense of its sinister implications…. [The] result i... Read more

Critical Essay by W Stephen Gilbert Knowing her apprenticeship in radio, I hope it doesn't seem too easy a cavil to say that Caryl Churchill's [Objections to Sex and Violence] feels more... Read more

Critical Essay by Donald Campbell If I were to be asked to list the plays which have given me most satisfaction this year, [Light Shining in Buckinghamshire] would come pretty high on the list. Two fe... Read more

Critical Essay by W Stephen Gilbert [Traps] has a title which seems to promise more than the play delivers—or possibly less than the play delivers. Elliptically structured, it features one retu... Read more