Skriker, The

Premiered at the Royal National Theatre, this extraordinary play by one of Britain's leading playwrights combines English folk tales with modern urban life. In terms of its language alone, it is as exciting and challenging on the page as on the stage. The play follows the Skriker, "a shapeshifter and death portent, ancient and damaged", in its search for love and revenge as it pursues two young women to London, changing its shape at every new encounter. Along with the Skriker come Rawheadandbloodybones, the Kelpie, the Green Lady, Black Dog and more, till the whole country is swarming with enticing and angry creatures that have burst from the underworld. Caryl Churchill has been hailed as a "dramatist who must surely be amongst the best half-dozen now writing" The Times. She is the author of some twenty plays including CLOUD NINE, TOP GIRLS, SERIOUS MONEY and MAD FOREST, all seen and admired all over the world.