Escaped Alone
by Caryl Churchill

A sunny afternoon. Sally, Vi and Lena sit in a yard drinking tea, on the other side of the fence stands Mrs Jarrett. “Don’t look now but there’s someone watching us.”

When Mrs Jarrett steps off the street and into Sally’s yard, her presence brings the outside world in and horrific events of the past, unspoken, emerge to the fore.

Intimate and vast, domestic and wild, Churchill’s vision presents a world hurtling towards its own destruction. Escaped Alone viciously satirises contemporary capitalist culture while it celebrates the (often unheard) voices of aging women.

In a career spanning over six decades, playwright Caryl Churchill continues to reinvent the genre with each new creation.

With an all-star veteran cast of the best in Irish female actors including, Sorcha Cusack (whose numerous television credits include playing the title role in Jane Eyre, Casualty, Coronation Street and Father Brown); Anna Healy (Winner of Best Supporting Actress at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2023) also known for her roles in ITV’s favourite soap, Emmerdale Farm; BBC’s hit TV series Showtrial (season 2) and RTE’s Fergus’s Wedding); Ruth McCabe (known for starring as Kay Curley in Stephen Frears’ The Snapper; Christy Brown’s paramour Mary in My Left Foot; and Wyn Ryan, sister of Dr. Sam Ryan, in three seasons of Silent Witness); and Deirdre Monaghan (known for screen roles in Game of Thrones (2011), Custer’s Last Stand Up (2001) and My Norwegian Holiday (2023)).

Escaped Alone premiered as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival at Everyman Cork in June 2025.

Funded by the Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

★★★★ “Comyn’s restrained, intelligent direction allows Churchill’s extraordinary script to take centre stage. The performances are sharp and tightly controlled, the design minimal but suggestive.”

- The Irish Times [read full review here]

★★★★ “the buzz of animated discussion afterwards shows the power of work that nudges audiences out of their comfort zone, where some of the best theatre resides”

- The Irish Examiner [read full review here]

★★★★ “a superb, understated production whose simplicity belies its underlying power.”

- The Arts Review [read full review here]

Written by
Caryl Churchill

Directed by
Annabelle Comyn

Presented by
Hatch Theatre Company and Everyman Theatre in association with Once Off Productions

AVAILABLE TO TOUR 2025

For touring details contact producer Maura O’Keeffe

PERFORMANCE DATES
12 - 14 June 2025 at Everyman Cork, as part of Cork Midsummer Festival

19 - 28 June 2025 at Project Arts Centre in Dublin

Cast
Sorcha Cusack, Anna Healy, Ruth McCabe, and Deirdre Monaghan

Set & Costume Designer
Tom Piper

Lighting Designer
SJ Sheils

Music and Sound by
Philip Stewart