Rushen Players
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Two One Act Plays
Thursday 14th & Friday 15th MARCH 2024
Curtain 7:30pm
Erin Arts Centre, Port Erin
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These notes are to provide more background information to the plays
than we are able to fit in the paper programme
Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill is one of the most influential
and significant contemporary British dramatists working today.
The author of
more than 30 plays, as well as a number of adaptations and translations, she
has
reshaped the theatre landscape and continues to produce adventurous new
work.
Churchill builds up theatrical techniques from
both Brechtian epic theatre and personal areas of theatre,
reshapes traditional
devices, and melds them into an original style. Churchill uses Brechtian
historicisation
to analyse the relationship between women at different social
positions through history.
Caryl Churchill's Escaped Alone is a play that
combines neighbourly chit-chat with visions of apocalyptic horror.
It was first
performed in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, London, on 21 January
2016.
Three old friends and a neighbour, backyard tea with environmental disaster, exploring themes of
politics, crisis, communication and female endurance. A summer of afternoons in
the back yard.
Tea and catastrophe!
The play is divided into eight sections; in each section the conversation is suspended while Mrs Jarrett
delivers
a monologue describing an evolving apocalyptic scenario in horrific
and frequently surreal terms.
In addition, in the second half of the play, each
of the other characters delivers a short soliloquy or aside,
laying bare their
own particular psychological troubles:
Sally's phobia of cats; Lena's crippling
depression;
Vi's intense dislike of kitchens, having killed her husband in her
own kitchen several years before.
The pleasant conversation is frequently interrupted, by the
neighbour, Mrs. Jarrett, who addresses the audience
with long monologues about an
apocalyptic world.
The play speaks to our fears about the
future of the planet,
as well as our personal anxieties, while also offering
some salvation in the strength of our community,
as friends, neighbours or
open-minded theatre goers.
Humour and pathos.
This brilliantly written, sometimes uncomfortable play comes with no easy answers.
Controversial and open to interpretation, it it intricately wired into current politics.
A seemingly pleasant tea party interspersed with apocalyptic disaster.
Make of it what you will.
The production team is pleased to be taking this offering to
the Gaiety Theatre as part of the MADF Easter Festival of Plays.
It will be staged
on Saturdayday 30th March at 7:30. If you would like a repeat performance your
support would be greatly appreciated.
TWO by Jim Cartwright
Taking place over the course of one evening, in a typical
Northern pub, Jim Cartwright’s TWO features diverse characters,
mostly played
by just two actors, who allow us into their lives.
Written in 1989, the play
waltzes us through a spectrum of human emotions.
It weaves a rich tapestry of
life in a working class town,
through intimate insights into the lives of
colourful pub regulars.
Interwoven with this, the Landlord and Landlady’s personal
tale unravels.
The production team is pleased to be taking this offering to
the Gaiety Theatre as part of the MADF Easter Festival of Plays.
It will be staged
on Tuesday 2nd April at 7:30. If you would like a repeat performance your
support would be greatly appreciated.
There is some (mild) bad language but plenty of laughs and
tears. A box of Kleenex is recommended but not essential. ENJOY!
