Skip to main content
2019

Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.

Written by Caryl Churchill

Play Details

Context

Artistic Director 
Vicky Featherstone

Dates Performed

Wednesday 18th September 2019
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Play Details

Synopsis

Bluebird’s Friends

Sule, Toby, Sarah, and Deborah – as they grapple with the earth-shattering revelation that their beloved friend, Bluebeard, is a serial killer who brutally murdered his many wives. As they navigate the aftermath of this shocking discovery, the characters confront their own guilt, betrayal, and disbelief, all while unearthing deeply buried secrets and personal struggles.

Through intense, overlapping dialogue and symbolic actions, the play delves into the dark underbelly of trust, gender dynamics, and the nature of evil, leaving audiences unsettled and introspective.

Glass

A girl who is made of glass and the difficulties this presents in her life. Her brother’s friend develops romantic feelings for her, but she warns him that getting intimately involved will only lead to more pain since her fragile, glass-constructed body could easily shatter.

Through the metaphor of the glass girl, the play explores ideas of vulnerability, trauma, the resilience of the human spirit, and the tragedy of inner emotional fragility not being visible externally. With its blend of magical realism and brutal reality, it creates a unique, poetic meditation on pain, human connection, and the reverberating aftermath of abuse. The glass girl’s final act conveys how deeply pain can cut someone to their core when left unresolved.

Kill 

The play is essentially one long, unbroken monologue that cycles through a Greek mythological saga of violence, betrayal, and generational curses. The “Gods” narrate the brutal, incestuous history of two rival brothers and their families who are locked in a bloody feud over control of a city. Their descendants commit horrific acts like murdering children, serving them as stew, and sacrificing a daughter – all in the pursuit of power and revenge. The vicious cycle continues as a son kills his mother and her lover, who had previously killed his father. The monologue jumps around chronologically but paints a nightmarish tapestry of familial brutality perpetuated by the gods’ own cruelty and ambivalence.

 

Director(s)

James Macdonald

Photo credit

All images credited to Johan Persson

Cast & Creative

Cast

Kwabena Ansah

Cast

Caelan Edie

Cast

Deborah Findlay

Cast

Louisa Harland

Cast

Toby Jones

Cast

Patrick McNamee

Cast

Tom Mothersdale

Cast

Rebekah Murrell

Cast

Sarah Niles

Cast

Leo Rait

Cast

Sule Rimi

Designer

Miriam Buether

Costume

Nicky Gillibrand

Sound

Christopher Shutt

Assistant Director

Grace Duggan