Arts of the UK 2021: Bad Nights and Odd Days by Greenwich Theatre

LONDON – Bringing together a trio of short and unforgettable plays from one of the country’s most prominent playwrights, Caryl Churchill (Top Girls; A Number; Drunk Enough To Say I Love You), Greenwich Theatre are reopening once again with their first in-house production since December. Led by acclaimed actor Paul McGann (Withnail and I; Doctor Who), Churchill’s earlier works will be brought to life for this limited season. Further casting will be announced in due course.

Bad Nights and Odd Days will see Churchill’s rarely performed plays, Abortive, Seagulls, and Three More Sleepless Nights, reenergised for the stage under the direction of Artistic Director James Haddrell. Exploring life-shattering events, a carousel of shifting relationships and the presence of psychic phenomena, this intimate collection of plays shows why it is so hard to categorise Churchill’s writing, blending the personal with the political, the naturalistic with the supernatural, the spoken with the unspoken.

Abortive highlights the strains of a married couple reeling in the aftermath of a shocking event; Three More Sleepless Nights details the everyday arguments and daily suppression of emotions; while Seagulls is Churchill’s powerful and personal allegory about losing the ability to write.

Director James Haddrell comments: “We are delighted to be emerging from the last year of closure with this special collection of short plays. Caryl Churchill is undoubtedly one of the most important British playwrights of the past half century, and thanks to support from Arts Council England I am excited to be able to share some of her earliest, most rarely performed work. With special permission from Churchill herself to bring the pieces together under the title Bad Nights and Odd Days, I know that this collection of intimate, quietly heart-stopping dramas will offer a powerful, moving evening of live theatre – the kind of evening that we have all been missing so much.”

Bad Nights and Odd Days plays from 23rd June to 10th July 2021 at Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, Greenwich, London SE10 8ES. Tickets available here