A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Fen

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  3w, 3m, 16any gender (adult)

Fen
by Caryl Churchill

Winner! 1983-1984 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize

"Ms. Churchill has put together with grace and anger and a generous humor an evening almost entirely composed of wants." - Sunday New York Times

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m, 16any gender (adult)

Details

Summary
This remarkable playwright shows still another aspect of her talent in Fen, which takes place in England's swamp or "fen" country and focuses on a gang of women landworkers. The play looks at their work situation and their private lives and dreams. In particular, we follow the story of Val, who leaves her husband and children to live with a farm worker, Frank. Other characters include Angela, the outsider who torments her stepdaughter Becky; Alice, who has turned to religion; Nell, who tries to assert her rights against the farmer; Shirley, who prides herself on keeping going. A community with strong links with the past but living in a present where the land is owned by multinationals.
22 characters, can be played by a cast of 6
  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting Various simple interior and exterior settings

Media

"Will establish Miss Churchill without question as a playwright who expresses the complexities of the world through the lives of individual women brilliantly." - Wall Street Journal

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

10 Caryl Churchill Plays to Read
by Maria Arroja Ferreira
October 30, 2019

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
    This title may have restrictions in place for London based productions. Please submit a licence request to confirm specific availability.

Scripts

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Authors

Caryl Churchill

Caryl Churchill was born on 3 September 1938 in London and grew up in the Lake District and in Montreal. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Downstairs, her first play written while she was still at university, was first staged in 1958 and won an award at the Sund ...

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