Preview: Blue Heart

Tobacco Factory Theatres and Orange Tree Theatre present two one-act plays by the inimitable Caryl Churchill.

Heart’s Desire sees a family awaiting their daughter’s return from Australia, though in a series of alternative scenarios, the play collapses as it keeps veering off in unexpected and ridiculous directions. Blue Kettle, meanwhile, tells the story of conman Derek and the five women he misleads into believing he is their biological son. Try as he might, Derek’s plans are scuppered as the play is invaded by a virus.

In Churchill’s ever-inventive style, the plays pull apart language and structure in a way that is theatrically remarkable and fast-paced, in a stirring yet truthful exploration of family and relationships. Here’s director David Mercatali (who took the helm for the much-praised Dark Vanilla Jungle at Tobacco Factory Theatres) to tell us more.

Caryl Churchill’s plays often seem to inhabit a universe of their own. Could you begin to describe that world, as seen in these two
It’s very much our world, actually. That is what I love so much about it: both plays have real people in real situations that we care about. It’s what happens on top of these situations that is so unreal, and that is what brings the theatrical excitement!

What challenges, and what opportunities, do plays like these present to a director?
They are very technically challenging plays, the words are demanding, the repetitions and the strange divergences. They’re a lot for an actor to take in. You have to be patient and allow the actors time to find their way with it.

What, if anything, do you hope Churchill may be trying to communicate in these two plays?
I think she is trying to destroy two plays, and the way she goes about it is both exciting and hilarious. I hope the audience comes away thinking they have had a unique experience they could only have had in the theatre.

I sense that the two plays together make up a whole… is that right? Are the two plays strongly linked – by language, by sense of reality/unreality or other?
The two plays are quite different – and quite different to rehearse. They are mostly linked in that neither is able to happen as they should be. But there are also domestic connections, feelings of longing, etcetera.

Is there room for (black?) humour in either/both of the plays?
There is room for humour, yes, and I hope people feel they can laugh. Some of the situations are deliberately ridiculous!

What about the characters – do they seem fleshed-out and believable or are they in some way stylised, like the strange plot twists and playing with narrative?
The characters all feel very believable to me. The stylisation is in the disruptions to both plays. The characters themselves are very real.

They clearly have in common some kind of undermining of normal, rational reality… is that right?
Yes, to an extent. They are mostly an undermining of theatre, a disruption of two plays. Which I find wonderfully rebellious!

Blue Heart Tobacco Factory Theatres, Sept 22-Oct 1. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/blue-heart