Glass, Kill, Bluebeard’s
Friends and Imp are four playlets by Caryl Churchill now playing
at the Royal Court Theatre in London. They are poetry in prose fashioned in
dialogue suitable for the stage. They are interesting, intriguing and opaque
which means they are creations in the world of Caryl Churchill.
Glass is a short playlet
that has nine characters including “Schoolgirls” played by four actors. The
actors are sitting or standing on a small platform that appears suspended in
midair above the stage floor. All we see is one narrow side of the platform on
a black background.
The cast of Glass. Photo: Johan Persson
The central character is A Girl
Made of Glass who first appears with her Brother, His Friend and Her Friend.
Another character, Mother, appears as well as a Clock, a Red Plastic Dog, a
Vase and Schoolgirls. Her Friend discloses a secret to the Girl Made of Glass
that sounds awful, but we are not told what it is. The Girl goes to her Friend’s
house and the relationship seems to be broken. Eventually, the Girl jumps out a
window and is shattered to pieces.
The actors who play all the parts
are Kwabena Ansah, Louisa Harland, Patrick McNamee and Rebekah Murrell.
Kill has two
actors, Tom Mothersdale representing the gods and a youngster (Caelan Eddie or
Leo Rait) representing the people. Mothersdale sits on a cloud and the boy is
playing with puzzles on the floor. The god is one or several of the Olympians
and he tells us that he does not exist but is something that people made up. He
proceeds to relate a detailed account of the myths of the House of Atreus, the
Royal House of Thebes and several other branches. Killing and cooking children
to be eaten by their father are prominent features of the myths of the two
dynasties of Greek mythology and we end up with a good account of them and a
lot more.
In Bluebeard’s Friends,
four people played by Deborah Findlay, Toby James, Sarah Niles and Sule Rimi talk
about the murderous Bluebeard. The speakers are not identified but they tell us
that Bluebeard is their friend and that they are horrified that he is dead. Or
was he just stabbed numerous times and is still alive?
One of them got the dresses, the
bloody dresses, that some of Bluebeard’s victims wore. We see them raised in
the background. The foursome continues the conversation. Some of the women
deserved what they got. Some were peasants. But he was a charming psychopath
and he liked us. What he did was terrible, but he loved beautiful things.
There crosscurrents among the
four speakers. The non-sequiturs and the conversation continue for a few
minutes and one of them puts on a blue beard and a woman puts on one of the
dresses. They are Bluebeard’s friend even if he was terrible. Who are these
people? Go figure.
Imp is longer than the
other three playlets put together. It has four characters and the action is
divided into about a dozen scenes. Dot (Deborah Findlay) and Jimmy (Toby Jones)
are a childless couple who are medically unfit. They are misfits who don’t get
along or maybe they do. Dot is a nurse who was dismissed for beating up a patient
and served some time in jail.
Toby Jones, Louisa Harland and Tom Mothersdale in Imp.
Photo: Johan Persson
We glean information about them
as they interact with Niamh (Louisa Harland) a distant Irish relative. They
have befriended Rob (Tom Mothersdale) a homeless person who has a brilliant son
but is also a liar. Niamh has a
relationship with him and ends up being pregnant. There is plenty of humour but
you know you are walking on quicksand. and are never sure of your footing or of
what is going on. You are left with the intriguing and opaque situation.
You should not be fooled with any
apparent simplicity in any of the pieces. The real story is in the subtext. The
god or gods in Kill, for example, are not retelling us Greek
myths. The violence, the admitted untruthfulness of the existence of the
deities and the blending of disparate mythologies is the real story.
The same applies to Glass,
Imp and Bluebeard’s Friends. They are pieces that a first look at them
simply begins the process of trying to understand them and Churchill’s complex
world.
__________
Glass, Kill, Bluebeard’s Friends and Imp
by Caryl Churchill continues until October 12, 2019 at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London,
SW1W 8AS. Box Office 020 7565 5000. www.royalcourttheatre.com
James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of The Greek Press
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