The extremely unassuming name belies the fact that Three and a Bit is the latest work from Caryl Churchill, probably Britain’s greatest living playwright and a good pal of new Almeida boss Dominic Cooke, who has rather impressively deployed her for the second time despite this technically being his first piece of programming (October’s standalone short play Triumph was surely his work too). Anyway, Three and Bit follows Churchill’s Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. and Love and Information in being a compilation of playlets directed by James Macdonald.
Beyond that we have no real idea what the deal is: the official desciption runs
Go on then.
You’re sure you want to?
I want to see if you can because I’m sure you can’t.
You’re sure you want to?
I want to see if you can because I’m sure you can’t.
Has Dex met a conjuror with something up his sleeve — or someone much worse?
What did Pete do to afford a second-hand robot?
Dance with Uncle, or what might happen to you?
And
A day that can only get better.
What did Pete do to afford a second-hand robot?
Dance with Uncle, or what might happen to you?
And
A day that can only get better.
…which isn’t entirely illuminating but we can assume there will be three (and a bit) short plays, and there’s surely a chance one of them will be Triumph. Oh, and they’ll probably all be headspinningly brilliant exercises in subversive concision by the last of the twentieth century titans.
