Synopsis

A dystopian landscape that shifts from a rural home to a hat factory and beyond

Joan becomes an unwitting witness to the horrors of a world consumed by total war. As she grows from a curious child in her aunt Harper‘s home to a young woman working alongside Todd in a macabre hat factory, Joan navigates a reality where every aspect of existence—human, animal, and even nature itself—is locked in perpetual conflict.

Churchill’s fragmented narrative and sparse dialogue create a chilling portrait of a society unraveling at its core. Through a series of increasingly bizarre and disturbing episodes, Far Away explores themes of complicity, propaganda, and the normalization of violence. The play’s surreal imagery, from prisoners parading in elaborate hats to Joan’s growing list of enemies, serves as a stark warning about the human capacity for cruelty and the ease with which we can become desensitized to atrocity.