Far Away is a 2000 play by British playwright Caryl Churchill that explores a dystopian world immersed in war. In the first act, a young girl named Joan questions her aunt Harper about strange events she witnessed at their house. Harper dismisses Joan's concerns. Later acts follow Joan as a young woman working in a hat factory with her friend Todd. They grow uneasy with their treatment at work as the conflict escalates around them. By the final act, Joan is paralyzed by the pervasive fear and uncertainty created by the perpetual war engulfing their world.

1. Far Away
(2000)
British playwright
Caryl Churchill

2. Out lines:
• Author
• Back ground information
• Place and Time
• Characters
• Summary
• Themes

3. Author
Caryl Lesley Churchill is a British playwright whose work
has been associated with surrealist and postmodern theatre.
She was born in London on September 3, 1938. Her family
moved to Montreal after World War II, where Churchill
matriculated at the Trafalgar School for Girls. In 1957,
Churchill moved back to England to attend Oxford
University, where she earned a B.A. in English Literature in
1960. During her time at Oxford, Churchill wrote four plays –
Downstairs, You’ve No Need to be Frightened, Having a
Wonderful Time, and Easy Death – all of which were
performed by Oxford student theater groups. In 1961,
Churchill married David Harrister, with whom she has three
sons.

4. • Her works:
•Cloud Nine
• top girl
•Serious Money
• Fen
•Hotel
•Love and Information
•The Ants
•Lovesick
•Abortive
• Owners

5. Back ground information
The play first performed at the Royal Court
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, London
on 24 November, 2000. It is a play in three acts
subdivided in scenes. It is contemporary and
written in prose.
The play has four characters: Harper, Young Joan,
Joan, and Todd and is based on the premise of a
world in which everything in nature is at war.
It is published by Nick Hern Books

6. Place & Time
Place: The play is developed in two different spaces.
First, characters are in Harper’s house. After that
they go to a hat factory to come back to the end of
the play to Harper’s house.
TIME: The play is not continuous. Each act talks
about a period. Between them there are differences
of months or even years as we can see when the
author says “several years later” to introduce and
locate us in a new act

7. Characters
JOAN: She is presented as a young innocent girl in the first act. She is still a
child but is smart and awake and not easy to lie to. Therefore, she asks
uneasy questions to her aunt and tries to discover what happens around
pretending to believe the lies she tells her to come afterwards with facts
which bring to the light their falsehoom. Later, she will appear as a young
woman who works as a hat-maker. She is not very combative and accepts
her bad situation. However, she will resign if his more combative partner
Todd is fired.
HARPER: She is Joan’s aunt. She is immersed in a kind of organisation or
something which is in war nowadays. Then she is really aware about who
could or could not be her friend. Moreover, she will strongly consider herself
on the “good”’s side and therefore considers she has the right to give
support to the commitment of murders and crimes on the “bad”’s side.

8. TODD: He is Joan’s work companion in hat-making. He is
quite concerned about his working situation and does not
want to accept it as he has been working as a hat-maker for
many years. He has a combative mind and will try to better
his situation. In the third act, though, he talks with Harper
about that nonsensical war they are immersed in. He seems
to be quite aware and concerned about the ones on his and
Harper’s side.

9. Summary
Joan with her aunt Harper about going to bed. She then starts asking her aunt about
some strange things she has seen happening in the house that night. She has seen her
uncle pushing and hitting some people from a lorry into the shed. Her aunt answers that
she has found a secret and that her uncle is helping those people escape. However, the
girl keeps asking questions about what she has seen even though her aunt will just
answer they are on the side of the people who are putting things right..
Time has passed. Joan has grown up and is now a hat-maker with her friend Todd.
They are making hats for a parade. They discuss the way they are treated and payed for
them. They continue decorating the hats and are playing a kind of game about talking
about themselves. They are finishing the hats which have become big and extravagant.
They recall that about the way they are paid and the corruptness of their management.
The hats have got really big. Todd is going to talk to the manager about their wages.
The hats are for a procession of chained prisoners who are shown on their way to
execution. They continue with new hats. It seems they have won a prize for the beauty
of their hats. Todd tells Joan about his conversation with the boss. He said that those
things should be “thought about”. Joan tells him that if he loses his job she will resign.

10. Themes
The main theme of "Far Away" is fear. More
specifically, the fear imposed by a government upon
its citizens. This fear permeates the work from the
smuggling of people by Joan's uncle to the public
march of death for prisoners of the government.
The theme is brought to its climax in Joan's final
monologue where she describes being so afraid of
the duality created by the propaganda of this new
world that she has trouble walking home because
she can't tell whose side a stream is on, or the
grass, or the flies.