What’s it all about?
The end of days juxtapositioned against the most normal of days.
Four retired women sit in a garden on a blue skied English afternoon. As the light falls they talk about everything and nothing. Idle musings on family, days gone by, baking, jokes and what it’s like to murder your husband in your kitchen.
This is Caryl Churchill and no one has the ability to mix the surreal with the norm. Quite literally in this case as these scenes of domestic bliss/mundanity – depending on how you feel about drinking tea and small talk – are frequently cut short as the auditorium is plunged into darkness and Linda Bassett steps forward to recount a grotesque, disturbing and acutely detailed monologue on the nightmarish collapse of civilisation.
Who’s in it?
James McDonald’s astute, well-paced and compelling direction has drawn near perfect performances from a quartet of talented actors who give a masterclass in naturalistic acting.
Bassett brings her easy wit to outsider Mrs Jarrett, the gleam in her eye for every gossipy titbit shared turning to cold fear as the lights fall dark and she delivers Churchill’s spectacular description of a nightmarish future. Kiki Markham gives a vulnerable and affecting turn as a woman coping with constant pain, while Deborah Findlay and June Watson demonstrate beautifully what happens when passive aggression and no bullsh*t temperaments clash.
What should I look out for?
Churchill’s impeccable writing. She weaves the most ordinary of things in with the most hideous with completely spectacular, poetic, disorientating, startling results.
No one can write Armageddon like Churchill.
In a nutshell?
James McDonald’s astutely observed production is startling, hilarious, dark, graphic and beautiful all at once.
What’s being said on Twitter?
Caryl Churchill’s EscapedAlone @royalcourt is oblique, witty, dark, driven by four great performers & as beautifully written as you’d expect
— James Haddrell (@JamesHaddrell) January 26, 2016
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Let me tell you that Caryl Churchill’s play Escaped Alone @royalcourt is INSANELY good. Bulletin over.
— Chloe Lamford (@chloelamford) January 26, 2016
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Will I like it?
If you’re a fan of Churchill’s Far Away, you will love this. At 50 minutes it may be slight but with writing this good, it’s a strikingly rich experience.
Escaped Alone is playing until 12 March. You can book tickets through the Royal Court Theatre website.