Writer: Caryl Churchill
Director: Annabelle Comyn
This is a play that reverberates. Seeing Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill generates disquiet and then provokes secondary reactions. A bleak prologue and epilogue bookend the cosy opening and closing scenes of three ladies, Vi (Ruth McCabe), Sally (Sorcha Cusack) and Lena (Deirdre Monaghan) sharing recollections. Their chat is interrupted when a neighbour, Mrs Jarret (Anna Healy) joins them. She is separated by position and costume and introduces a disparate tone to the cosy scene.
The stellar cast expertly convey the different characters from seated positions, distanced from each other and progressively convey an impression of a society teetering on the edge of disintegration. The commonplace conversation about the fictitious latest episode of the third TV series of ‘Parallel Universe’ quickly disintegrates to be replaced by grim visions of a dystopian future spawned by Mrs Jarret’s apocryphal monologues.
Originally written in 2016, Churchill’s juxtaposition of the neighbourhood trivialities with global collapse is a terrifying indictment of society’s blindness to an impending catastrophe. Each of the three character’s backstories is gradually revealed and the relevance of parallel universes is highlighted. The characters focus on their own concerns and decline to hear spoilers of the forthcoming third TV series. They lack awareness of the potential disasters, natural and political, that face global populations. The two communities exist in parallel.
The stark contrast between the banality of everyday life and prophetic, terrifying visions of a future dystopian society are mirrored by Tom Piper’s set and Sarah Jane Sheils’s lighting. The simple garden setting is backdropped by a glaring, gradually setting sun. A golden summer light is replaced by black darkness and the spotlight falls on the voice of doom. Who escaped alone? What did she escape from? A figure emerges from billowing smoke at the play’s end.
This play has become more relevant in the global milieu of 2025 and engenders an uncomfortable response. The fragmented dialogue between the three seated ladies about their lives and inner demons deny any sense of completion nor does it suggest the possibility of movement and change. The fiery, image laden, lengthy poetic speeches of Mrs Jarret create a jarring note.
In the current geopolitical mayhem this is a timely revival of Escaped Alone by the Hatch Theatre Company and Everyman Cork. Theatre can be an agent for instigating societal change and Churchill, throughout her career has engaged in commentary on society’s concerns and values. Do we go to the theatre to be entertained or to be provoked to reflect on what is happening to the planet and are agitated to seek change? You choose.
Runs Until 28th June 2025.
