Two exhilarating and teasingly entertaining one-act plays from one of the UK's leading playwrights.

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 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 Caryl Churchill's ever-inventive style, the two plays in Blue Heart 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.

Blue Heart was first performed at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, in August 1997 in a touring co-production by Out of Joint and the Royal Court Theatre.

This edition was published alongside the first major revival of Blue Heart, nearly twenty years after its premiere, in a co-production by the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, and Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol, in 2016.

About the Author
Caryl Churchill is a leading playwright who has written widely for the stage, television and radio. Her stage plays include: Owners (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1972); Objections to Sex and Violence (Royal Court, 1975); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (Joint Stock, 1976); Vinegar Tom (Monstrous Regiment, 1976); Traps (Royal Court, 1977); Cloud Nine (Joint Stock, 1979); Three More Sleepless Nights (Soho Poly and Royal Court, 1980); Top Girls (Royal Court, 1982); Fen (Joint Stock, 1983); Softcops (RSC, 1984); A Mouthful of Birds with David Lan (Joint Stock, 1986); Serious Money (Royal Court and Wyndham's, London, then Public Theater, New York, 1987); Icecream (Royal Court, 1989); Mad Forest (Central School of Speech and Drama, then Royal Court, 1990); Lives of the Great Poisoners with Orlando Gough and Ian Spink (Second Stride, 1991); The Skriker (Royal National Theatre, 1994); Thyestes translated from Seneca (Royal Court, 1994); Hotel with Orlando Gough and Ian Spink (Second Stride, 1997); This is a Chair (Royal Court, 1997); Blue Heart (Joint Stock, 1997); Far Away (Royal Court, 2000, and Albery, London, 2001, then New York Theatre Workshop, 2002); A Number (Royal Court, 2002, then New York Theatre Workshop, 2004); A Dream Play after Strindberg (Royal National Theatre, 2005); Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (Royal Court, 2006, then Public Theater, New York, 2008); Bliss, translated from Olivier Choiniere (Royal Court, 2008); Seven Jewish Children - a play for Gaza (Royal Court, 2009); Love and Information (Royal Court, 2012); Ding Dong the Wicked (Royal Court, 2012); Here We Go (National Theatre, 2015); Escaped Alone (Royal Court, 2016), Pigs and Dogs (Royal Court, 2016), Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. (Royal Court, 2019) and What If If Only (Royal Court, 2021).

Reviews

'A fiendishly clever and surreal play' Guardian

* Guardian *

'The play of the year'

* Independent *

'Substantial, provocative, immensely stylish works which create an unsettling mixture of wild laughter and profound unease... a major hit'

* Telegraph *



Book Information
ISBN 9781848426009
Author Caryl Churchill
Format Paperback
Page Count 72
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books