The Skriker

I got to work on the production of this play at the NYSF/Public Theatre many years ago, and it was one of the best plays I'd ever worked on. When I read the text, I can still hear the actors' voices saying the lines. Fantastic. I wish I had a video of it, although it would not be able to capture the bizarrity and wonderfulness of the production.

I believe The Skriker is Churchill's finest play, and I've read them all and seen a number of them. She has woven many of her recurring themes and motifs in this play to dazzling effect: magic and myth, time and timelessness, gender and womanhood, mothering, and the power of the theatre to transform. The play is witty and somber, reassuring and threatening, and brilliantly unpredictable throughout.

Drawing on scores of tales we all remember from childhood, this play about a shapeshifter who pursues two young women will reverberate with you long after you've read it.

"The Skriker" is a wonderous piece of drama. Melding English folklore with a contemporary environment, Churchill has managed to create a terrifying dramatic "fairy tale." The story revolves around two teenage girls, their pregnancies, and the Skriker, a shapeshifter and evil spirit who plays a unique Rumpelstiltskinian role. Bristling with dramatic possibilities, due in no small part to the countless creatures with names like Rawheadandbloodybones and Black Annis that roam the play, this important work commands a unique theatrical excitement. A full five-star ranking is reserved for Churchill's "Cloud Nine," a play of truly remarkable ingenuity in its handling of the sexual revolution and its consequences. Yet the Skriker stands tall at four and a half stars, basking in its fierce, modern intelligence.