Light shining in Buckinghamshire

by Caryl Churchill

An early masterwork by one of the world's leading playwrights.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature

39 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1992

About the author

Caryl Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, dramatisation of the abuses of power, and exploration of sexual politics.[1] She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and one of world theatre's most influential writers.

Her early work developed Bertolt Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques of 'Epic theatre' to explore issues of gender and sexuality. From A Mouthful of Birds (1986) onwards, she began to experiment with forms of dance-theatre, incorporating techniques developed from the performance tradition initiated by Antonin Artaud with his 'Theatre of Cruelty'. This move away from a clear Fabel dramaturgy towards increasingly fragmented and surrealistic narratives characterises her work as postmodernist.

Prizes and awards

Churchill has received much recognition, including the following awards:

1958 Sunday Times/National Union of Students Drama Festival Award Downstairs
1961 Richard Hillary Memorial Prize
1981 Obie Award for Playwriting, Cloud Nine
1982 Obie Award for Playwriting, Top Girls
1983 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (runner-up), Top Girls
1984 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Fen
1987 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year, Serious Money
1987 Obie Award for Best New Play, Serious Money
1987 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Serious Money
1988 Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play, Serious Money
2001 Obie Sustained Achievement Award
2010 Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Plays

Downstairs (1958)
You've No Need to be Frightened (1959?)
Having a Wonderful Time (1960)
Easy Death (1960)
The Ants, radio drama (1962)
Lovesick, radio drama (1969)
Identical Twins (1960)
Abortive, radio drama (1971)
Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen, radio drama (1971)
Owners (1972)
Schreber's Nervous Illness, radio drama (1972) – based on Memoirs of My Nervous Illness
The Hospital at the Time of the Revolution (written 1972)
The Judge's Wife, radio drama (1972)
Moving Clocks Go Slow, (1973)
Turkish Delight, television drama (1973)
Objections to Sex and Violence (1975)
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1976) [7]
Vinegar Tom (1976)
Traps (1976)
The After-Dinner Joke, television drama (1978)
Seagulls (written 1978)
Cloud Nine (1979)
Three More Sleepless Nights (1980)
Top Girls (1982)
Crimes, television drama (1982)
Fen (1983)
Softcops (1984)
A Mouthful of Birds (1986)
A Heart's Desire (1987)[18]
Serious Money (1987)
Ice Cream (1989)
Hot Fudge (1989)
Mad Forest (1990)
Lives of the Great Poisoners (1991)
The Skriker (1994)
Blue Heart (1997)
Hotel (1997)
This is a Chair (1999)
Far Away (2000)
Thyestes (2001) – translation of Seneca's tragedy
A Number (2002)
A Dream Play (2005) – translation of August Strindberg's play
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (2006)
Seven Jewish Children – a play for Gaza (2009)
Love and Information (2012)
Ding Dong the Wicked (2013)
Here We Go (play) (2015)

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryl_Ch...

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rydqw

Description: First performed in 1976, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire focuses on the millennial movements that erupted during the English civil war in the 1640s. At the heart of the play is an edited dramatisation of The Putney Debates of 1647. The radical Levellers argue for liberty and universal suffrage while the military establishment stands for security and property as the basis for electoral eligibility.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

FRom BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3:
First performed in 1976, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire focuses on the millennial movements that erupted during the English civil war in the 1640s. At the heart of the play is an edited dramatisation of The Putney Debates of 1647. The radical Levellers argue for liberty and universal suffrage while the military establishment stands for security and property as the basis for electoral eligibility.

[Steve Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between a play in a series of somewhat connected vignettes, this tells the story of the left opposition during the English Civil War. Some of it, particularly the scenes involving women, is incredibly moving. Some of it, because written in the language of the time, is difficult to understand.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly relevant for a 1970s play about the 1640s. The choppiness is a feature, not a bug, though it somewhat dilutes the reading experience. I bet a good production plays great.

[Phoebe Meikle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sad part is that I loved what it was trying to say about religion, but it wasn’t written in a way that I cared, or wanted to follow any of the characters. In my opinion, the whole play could’ve been condensed solely into ‘THE MEETING’ scene in Act Two. The rest of the play didn’t move me at all.

[Laurence Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fair warning: this play requires prior knowledge of events of the Civil War, especially the figures of Cromwell and the role of the New Model Army to be enjoyed. But very Brechtian and Churchill is good at having characters mean more than what they say.

[Gracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Caryl's bloody brilliant, isn't she?

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

so brilliant it made me feverish. brings alive dry and dusty religious debates, makes vivid the feeling of the world turned upside down, churchill is clearly a major dramatist

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play about the hopes that allowed for Cromwell to over-throw the British Crown, and the disappointment and anger that led to the return to Monarchy.

In many ways this play brings to mind ideas and the styling of Mad Forrest which will come more than a decade later, though this play avoids the fantastical that marks the latter.

The people here are filled with passion, intelligent discourse, and deep-rooted emotion. There are a couple gaps in the narrative that a production can easily fill in, and there are consistent connections to our current world (however these are occasionally made to drastic to allow full creditability in this world).

My main complaint though is that I was intellectually curious but not emotionally engaged (though of course this might be different in a good production), and there is a scene at the end that goes on much longer than it needs to.

But all in all, an interesting play.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Churchill's experimental play still provokes. It's fault is that it is talky, talky, talky, but the characters talk about things that matter. Much of it is an examination of religion as the opiate of the people as a group of free thinking poor folks navigate the society about to be turned upside down by the English revolution, and then it is, so everything (and nothing) changes. A brilliant idea for a play that is not as lively as one might want it to be.

[Robert Kinard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A play that I had to read for my British History class. That being said, I liked it. The part where is summarizes the Putney debates was very interesting because I had never heard the arguments for sufferage to be tied to land ownership before.