The Double Caryl Churchill Season

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
Monday 11 April 2016

Coming to Wellington: A Double Season by One of the Greatest Living Playwrights

Wellington will soon be treated to a two-play season at BATS Theatre celebrating the vision and unique voice of the UK’s Caryl Churchill, widely regarded to be one of the world’s greatest living playwrights. Far Away is a dystopian fairy tale investigating terror, corruption and declining mental health, and the impact these have on individuals and communities. The mind-bendingLove and Information has 57 scenes and over 100 diverse characters, and explores how people find ways to connect in the 21st century.

Director Tabitha Arthur says she was on the hunt for a play featuring well-written female characters: “When I read Caryl Churchill's work, I got goosebumps. She is so intelligent – both academically and emotionally. I knew reading these plays that I had to do them both,” she says. “I couldn't stop thinking about them.”

The two plays are vastly different to each other in tone and structure, with the darker Far Away being a cautionary tale about the power of fear. It features actor Harriet Prebble, a Most Promising Newcomer finalist in the 2015 Wellington Theatre Awards for her role as Janet Frame in Circa’s production ofGifted. Love and Information is a whirlwind made up of dozens of connections – and missed connections – between every sort of modern human.

Tabitha Arthur says both shows are memorable and challenging. “Churchill has an uncanny way of adding layers and depth to something that can, at first glance, seem so simple. She’s outstanding.”

THE DOUBLE CARYL CHURCHILL SEASON, directed by Tabitha Arthur

BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace, Wellington
19 May to 4 June 2016

Far Away 6.30pm
Love and Information 8.30pm

Tickets $20 full, $15 concession
Double pass $35 full, $25 concession

Tickets available from bats.co.nz or phone (04) 802 4175

With thanks to Wellington City Council and Creative Communities NZ

//ends//

CAST

Far Away
Harriet Prebble, Ilena Shadbolt, Vita Jerram, Vanessa Rhodes, James Cain

Love and Information
Simon Boyes, Keagan Carr¬Fransch, Merlin Connell¬Nawalowalo, Waylon Edwards, Ian Harcourt, Eunji Park, Bethany Petrovich, Perry Piercy, Sophia Elizabeth Sparks, Niamh Vaughan, Trae Te Wiki

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“More than any other writer [Caryl Churchill] has transformed the theatreinto what it needs to be: a gymnasium that exercises the imagination, shakes up the moral sense, stretches the spirit.”
– London Times

“Caryl Churchill is one of the most critically acclaimed playwrights in the English-speaking world, and perhaps the single most acclaimed female one.”
– New York Times

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