Interview Caryl Churchill by the people who know her best

'The plays speak for themselves' … Caryl Churchill in 1972. Photograph: Jane Bown for the Guardian

Interview

Caryl Churchill, by the people who know her best

Her plays arrive fully formed – and she refuses to talk about what they mean. Mark Lawson talks to actors, directors and her publisher about what really makes Churchill tick

Caryl Churchill / In theatre, it's all about the surprise

My hero / Caryl Churchill by Sadie Jones

Mark Lawson
Wednesday 3 October 2012

 

S

ince the death of JD Salinger, one of my biggest regrets as an interviewer is that Caryl Churchill declines to speak publicly about her work. It's a resolution she has stuck to through the quarter century in which she has established herself as one of theatre's most innovative and provocative dramatists. Tantalisingly, there have now been two new plays within a month that journalists can't ask her about: today, the Royal Court in London premieres Ding Dong the Wicked, a half-hour drama that will run alongside Love and Information, the enthusiastically reviewed full-length play that opened there three weeks ago.

Caryl Churchill / In theatre, it's all about the surprise

 

Caryl Churchill

In theatre, it's all about the surprise

The power of theatre to take you unawares can often be lost – which is why a new Royal Court initiative with Caryl Churchill is welcome

Interview Caryl Churchill by the people who know her best

My hero / Caryl Churchill by Sadie Jones

Lyn Gardner

Wednesday 5 June 2013

The box-office appeal of novel and film adaptations on stage suggests that audiences like known qualities. The whole point of Dirty Dancing is that it's a facsimile of the movie, and the fact it's coming back into the West End suggests there are plenty of people who know what they like. Maybe that represents less of a risk, particularly as West End ticket prices are so high, with a top price seat now averaging £87.

My hero / Caryl Churchill by Sadie Jones

 

With Top Girls Caryl Churchill presented us with a female global humanity.
Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

My hero: 

Caryl Churchill by Sadie Jones

I was 15 when I went to see Top Girls. Churchill filled in a great chunk of what it is, and has always been, to be a woman – and I am grateful to her

Interview Caryl Churchill by the people who know her best

Caryl Churchill / In theatre, it's all about the surprise

Friday 2 May 2014

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irls growing up in the 1980s were not given heroes. We were to be the new generation but lacked what men have in abundance, the rich mythology of the past. It felt as if there were no baseline to being female, no background. We learned about the women's suffrage movement at school and that we owed them everything, but being able to vote was old news, and so basic as to be pretty unimpressive.