Prepare to Be Provoked. Caryl Churchill Is Back.

Any list of the greatest living English playwrights should not, in my opinion, omit Alan Ayckbourn. Certainly the most prolific and deservedly the most produced, he is often underrated by critics. He is not an also-ran.

After reading the comments here about "Seven Jewish Children" I watched two different productions of the short play on Youtube. It is a tragedy. It represents different voices of parents who debate choices as to what their children are taught; it demonstrates how voices change over time; it highlights how anger can dominate discourse; it reveals how fear and persecution can warp communities across generations. In the play I heard resonances with how over the past 400 years European colonizers of North America told their children different views on the Native People who lived here. I heard resonances with how the wealthy tell their children different perspectives on those who are poor, homeless, displaced by global capitalism. "Seven Jewish Children" shows the complex evolution of perspectives of Jews, Zionists and Israelis over the past 80 years as a parallel and a warning to how culture and politics is transmitted and changes across generations. I would like to thank the other commenters who mentioned this play - without their comments I would not have viewed it. I would like to thank the author of this piece for bringing the work of Ms. Churchill to my attention.

7JC was criticized by Jews (nice try at mitigation with "some pro Israel groups," AJDT) in both Britain and America as anti-semitic, because it was and is. Ms. Churchill is profoundly hateful toward the one and only Jewish state, its supporters, and its people in a way she is to no other peoples on this Earth----a sadly perfect new addition to England's ten-century history of profound, unapologetic anti-semitism. This Jew-hatred is tolerated in a way that would be unacceptable for any other group in the world, particularly by the American Left and it's institutions, like the NYTW, and sadly by many Jewish artists who I imagine think they're too, what, pure(?) to have any solidarity with their own people and seem to go out of their to way to exonerate haters like Ms. Churchill. Perhaps Ms. Chavkin and Mr. Nicola could get Ms. Churchill to do a rousing stage-adaptation of the The Protocols next. Why settle for half-measures?

Not to take anything away from TOP GIRLS (which had an excellent and unforgettable production at MTC sometime back. Impossible to forget the extraordinary performance from Martha Plimpton). ...but Arthur Kopit created a similar structure decades before in CHAMBER MUSIC. I also saw an unforgettable production and the unknown actress playing Amelia Earheart conveyed a profound and subtle sadness that still lingers in memory. From Wikipedia: "The women are — or at least believe they are — author Gertrude Stein, martyr Joan of Arc, activist Susan B. Anthony, politician Queen Isabella I of Spain, Constanze Mozart (wife of the famed composer), pilot Amelia Earhart, silent-film actress Pearl White, and explorer Osa Johnson. They have come together to represent the women of the asylum in planning for an attack they believe is soon to come from the men's ward. The doctor is an omnipresent figure in the asylum, checking in on the women. In the play's context, it is suggested that the woman who claims she is Amelia Earhart could be telling the truth instead of being insane, given the time frame and that Earhart went missing. There are beliefs that they play is meant to symbolize the sexist and unjust treatment of women throughout history."

Thank you for this article. I saw Cloud 9 off Broadway and as a person who spent 7 years of his teenage years in South Africa, it was a revelation. One of the best plays I have seen. My wife and I were also lucky enough to see Serious Money in London one year while on holiday. Churchill is a national treasure, and her lack of interviews sadly means much fewer articles about her in print. Thanks for this one.

I teach Top Girls every year as a great example of Postmodern Drama. Cloud 9 is another great example. Amazing how ahead of the pack she was when she wrote these.

Excited to see this next week! Take note, Churchill fans: there is also a terrific production of Top Girls, directed by Liesl Tommy, now thru 5/20, at Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.

The emperor wears no clothes.

Went to see “Light Shining in Buckinghamshire” in previews last week. Knowing something of the history of the time enhances the experience. Even without doing that homework, it's a memorable experience. Caryl Churchill is served well by this cast and brilliant production.

I am a fan of Caryl Churchill. But Dwight Garner's piece does not really point out that she is often a political writer. Two of her plays that I would have liked to see at least mentioned in the article are Serious Money (about Wall Street and insider trading in the 1980's - much better, in my view, than the more recent Ayad Akbar's Junk), and the short but controversial Seven Jewish Children (about Israel, the Holocaust, and Gaza; criticized by some pro Israel groups in Britain as antisemitic).

Her Ice Cream with Hot Fudge were staged at The Public in the early 90's as I recall, and were marvelous. Great writing, well-performed.

I DID see "Top Girls" in London in 1983, it was extraordinary. I was there for a semester abroad (I was a Theatre Major) and my 5 roommates and I all saw it together (we were all in the same program). We then performed part of it in an acting class as a final project. And THEN, in 2015, all 6 of us got together in London, sat in our living room one night with scripts and read the whole thing through again, each of us playing the same roles. It's a marvelous play.

I adore Ms. Churchill's work, as well as that of Mr. Stoppard, but I disagree with the author's first statement that they are Englands greatest living playwrights. I would put the much more prolific, entertaining and enlightening Sir Alan Ayckbourn before either of them.

Among the plays I’ve read but never had a chance to see in performance, “Light Shining in Buckinghamshire” is my favorite script by a good margin. So sad I won’t be in New York to see this revival.