Three More Sleepless Nights

Synopsis

Caryl Churchill’s engaging play is a powerful look at human interaction and relationships. One double bed. Two couples. Three short acts of love-tangled conversation that expertly twist and turn, from existential angst to sci-fi films; from explosive arguments to long silences.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 3 August 2009

Here’s a collector’s item: a short fifty-minute early play by Caryl Churchill, hardly seen since its premiere in the old Soho Poly near the BBC in 1980, and given with a first-rate quartet of actors for just ten performances.

Chronologically, the play comes between Top Girls and Cloud Nine, so we shouldn’t be surprised at the density and control of the writing; but I was surprised by its comic bleakness and almost Pinter-like savagery of expression. This is also the first time Churchill uses her trademark over-lapping dialogue.

The set - fitting snugly on a slope within the Phedre design - is a free-standing bedroom wall and a very large double bed. On this bed we see Margaret and Frank rowing bitterly after he’s come home drunk yet again; and then Pete and Dawn drifting apart while he drones on about Alien and she slits her wrists under the bedclothes.

Finally, Margaret and Pete are together but it’s...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 1 August 2009:

This Carol Churchill revival is better than her more recent minimalist work, but it's rather lost in the Lyttleton. It belongs in the Cottesloe, or even better Soho or Bush theatres. Individually, the three realistic scenes are intriguing but added together they don't really make a satisfying play....

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