Early plays
Whilst raising a family Churchill began to write short plays for radio including The Ants (1962), Not, Not, Not, Not Enough Oxygen (1971), and Schreber’s Nervous Illness(1972)...
Caryl Churchill: Biography & Plays
Caryl Churchill is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading playwrights, renowned for her feminist and socialist views.
Churchill was born in London on 3 September 1938 and after the Second World War her family emigrated to Montreal in Canada, where she attended Trafalgar School for Girls. She returned to England to attend Oxford University and graduated with a degree in English Literature in 1960. At Oxford she wrote three plays for student drama groups: Downstairs, You’ve No Need to be Frightened and Having a Wonderful Time.
Royal Court Theatre
Churchill was appointed resident dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre from 1974-1975 and went on to collaborate with a number of theatre companies including Joint Stock and Monstro...
Cloud Nine
Caryl Churchill first achieved prominence as a playwright in 1979 with Cloud Nine, a play set partly in a British colony in the Victorian era which examines the relationships involv...
Top Girls and The Striker
Churchill developed her feminist theme further in Top Girls (1982) with an all-female cast, focusing on Marlene, who has sacrificed a home and family life to achieve success in the ...
Serious Money
Serious Money (1987) is a verse play that takes a satirical look at the stock market and received enormous acclaim, partly because it played immediately after the stock market crash...
Seven Jewish Children
The Royal Court Theatre recently launched a 70th Birthday retrospective of Caryl Churshill’s work by presenting readings of many of her most famous plays. In January 2009, Chu...