Perhaps we should find it reassuring that Far Away, Caryl Churchill’s unsettling vision of a world at war with itself, is always described as prescient. Twenty years since it was first staged, the human race has — touch wood — not yet had to make alliances with crocodiles to survive. But anyone watching Lyndsey Turner’s spine-tingling revival of this masterful work is probably in denial if they think it really does feel far away.
It begins with a young girl in a nightdress (Sophia Ally) witnessing something awful; “If it was a party, why was there blood?” she asks. Fifteen years later, that young girl — Joan (Aisling Loftus) — works in a factory with Todd (Simon Manyonda) making ridiculous hats. Several years pass, and the pair discuss whether they can still trust wasps, deer or water, with Joan’s aunt Harper (Jessica Hynes).
The black humour of Churchill’s writing is sometimes missing, but otherwise Turner’s production is a strong match for the playwright’s wild imagination, with sound from Christopher Shutt that makes the walls vibrate, and glorious visuals from Lizzie Clachlan.
The famous hat parade scene, in which condemned prisoners wear the outlandish creations, gave me an adrenaline rush trying to take it all in. The joyful designs — ice creams, paint pots, teddy bears — jar with the human despair on show. That’s fitting for Churchill’s eerie fable, which stuns you with its craft before a more sinister feeling kicks in.
Until March 28; (donmarwarehouse.com, 020 3282 3808)
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