Review Roundup: See What Critics Thought of Caryl Churchill's Quartet

A girl made of glass. Gods and murders. A serial killer's friends. And a secret in a bottle. Four stories by Caryl Churchill.

Caryl Churchill's most recent play Escaped Alone, opened at the Royal Court to critical acclaim and transferred to New York. Many of her plays which first premiered at the Royal Court are now considered modern classics including Top Girls, A Number and Far Away.

Glass, Kill, Bluebeard and Imp are directed by James Macdonald and will run in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs Wednesday 18 September 2019 - Saturday 12 October 2019 with press night on Wednesday 25 September 2019, 7pm.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

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Marianka Swain, BroadwayWorld: Though different in length, style and tone, each of the four informs the other, so you really get two experiences here: first seeing each play in turn, and then in retrospect, as motifs and ideas layer on top of one another in dark harmony.

Michael Billington, The Guardian: While each has its own distinct identity, the unifying factor is the human need for myths, legends and stories - and the imminence, as well as the immanence, of death. Together they make a strangely compelling quartet.

Mark Shenton, London Theatre: Well, the first surprise is the addition of a fourth play - and it is also just as well. The three short plays that now comprise the first act are a heady and frequently playful hors d'oeuvre, but not exactly a satisfying meal. As if to acknowledge this, director James Macdonald even pads them out here by separating them out with interludes of juggling and hand-balancing between each playlet.

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut: Caryl Churchill is by far the greatest playwright working in the English language today. Sometimes that makes reviewing her a bit of a pain. Her latest, 'Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.' is a virtuoso quartet of plays that will probably take years to digest fully, in which her almost supernatural powers of language remain entirely undimmed.

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

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