Here we had four eagerly awaited plays by Caryl Churchill. With a certain amount of tube chaos, I arrived too late for Glass and watching it on the monitor was pretty hopeless. It certainly looked visually engaging but I could hardly hear the words. Anyway, latecomers were let in as the behind the curtain scene was being changed while in front of the curtain, we were treated to a spectacular juggler. Then the curtain rose for Kill, an extraordinary near-monologue with Tom Mothersdale sitting on a cloud as the Gods while a young boy played below him. The Gods recounted the incredibly convoluted plots of Greek plays in a way that was funny but also very engaging for poetry of the words and the manner of delivery. It pointed out how much was done to please the Gods that don't exist and ended with the Gods calling a halt. Fascinating to watch at the time, one is left pondering what Caryl Churchill is getting at. My interpretation is perhaps the rather plain one that so much human history is about killing - and killing for convoluted reasons often in the name of belief. Any God worthy of worship would surely be unimpressed by our human behaviour.
The intermission between Kill and the next play was filled by another amazing spectacle - this time a gymnast who managed to support herself on one arm, the whole time revealing the tension that the feat involved. This over, the curtain revealed four suburban characters discussing their old friend bluebeard and how his killings had come as such a surprise. They had on display the blood-stained dresses of his various victims and went on to discuss how they might market replicas of these as souvenirs to cash in on their relationship. It was excellently acted and staged so that this absurd situation became engrossing for its 15 minutes or so.
After the interval, came the much lengthier Imp. This starred in particular Deborah Findlay and Toby Jones as a couple of cousins, Dot and Jimmy, both on benefits, living together "without sex". Jimmy likes to go for runs to help with his depression; Dot really just sat in her chair using her inhaler from time to time. They are joined by Niamh, a young relative from Ireland who strikes up a relationship with Rob a homeless man who visits Dot and Jimmy. Some way into the play, Jimmy reveals that Dot has a bottle that she believes contains an imp and he goes on to try and use the imp to bring Rob good fortune; however, when Rob appears to dump Niamh the imp is invoked to put a curse on him. For a while, we are told Rob has found work in Saudi Arabia and Niamh has been posted to Paris. However, at the end, it becomes clear that this is all a ruse and Rob and Niamh are in fact together and she is pregnant.
The words of this play were quite Beckett-like - or maybe Pinter. They just washed through, beautiful to listen to. The most extraordinary exchange was Dot asking Jimmy if she was still attractive and him replying 'you know you're not'. What to make of it? Well, it cleverly confronted us with the power of beliefs in imp-like powers. Dot was mortified when Jimmy revealed he might have released the imp, as if a genuine power had been taken away. Then again, we were treated to some thoughts on the nature of relationships and how sex is such a powerful and misleading motivator especially before old age.
All in all, I thought this was great evening and would happily go to it again. for some reason, the critics seemed united on four-stars. Personally, I would give it five.
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