Far Away
Donmar Warehouse, London

PERHAPS the most chilling aspect of Caryl Churchill’s disturbing plays is that, however long ago they were written, they never quite lose their relevance or feel remotely out of date.

They are chilling because her work tends to focus on just how nightmarish our world is, or is on the verge of becoming, and Far Away, first performed 20 years ago, is in that sense typical Churchill.

A little girl (child actor Abbiegail Mills) wakes to the sound of screams and sees her uncle beating people, including children, in the garden shed.

When she approaches her aunt, she is told that despite the blood, her uncle is just having a party with some people who he is “helping to escape.”

The action then switches to a scene in a hat factory, where dazzling headgear is being prepared for a parade.

As these absurd creations are made, two hat-makers discuss the dark sides of the job — a corrupt management, the terrible pay, the bullying, to name just a few.

And then there’s a jump to the parade, enhanced by an exceptional set design from Lizzie Clachan, in which dozens of very young and old prisoners are modelling the striking hats, looking utterly miserable as they prepare to be executed.

Bodies, along with the hats, are burned in a brutal scene exposing the irony of the hat-makers’ complaints about working in such a horrific environment without actually acknowledging — or perhaps they’re ignoring — the real horror that’s going on in front of them.

The Donmar Warehouse’s intimate space immerses audiences even more in the action than productions at bigger venues and gives the sense that we are perhaps not actually that far away from the apocalyptic world at war portrayed on stage.

A mere 40 minutes long, there is not one word that seems redundant or action gratuitous which, aside from Churchill’s talent as a playwright, is down to an excellent cast.

Jessica Hynes, Aisling Loftus and Simon Manyonda do a brilliant job of appearing normal in a world where disaster simmers underneath.

With superb staging from director Lyndsey Turner, the absurd analogies of this depressing play resonate, shocking us into acknowledging the oft-ignored horrors and prejudices that surround us.   

Runs until April 4, box office: donmarwarehouse.com.