Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. Off-Broadway Reviews

Her latest investigations take the form of a collection of four one-act plays at the Public Theater, under the portmanteau title “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.” Written separately over the last few years, each is pointed enough on its own: short and edgy. But together, in a splendid and surprisingly emotional production directed by James Macdonald, a frequent Churchill collaborator, they are so sharp you hardly feel them slicing your skin.

For sheer fertility of imagination, there may be no dramatist writing today to match Caryl Churchill. Across a distinguished career spanning more than five decades, the British playwright has written about a vast array of subjects, from the evils of colonialism to the global financial system to the morality of human cloning. And with each work she seems, astonishingly, to find a fresh form, a newly minted theatrical vessel for her ideas. The four short plays currently on view at the Public Theater reveal the writer at her most economical—her works have become more concentrated in recent years—and often at her most provocatively enigmatic. These are plays that startle with their strangeness, but also leave you with much to ponder.

These four servings of Churchill are staged extremely well by Macdonald in the varying styles they require. The ten-member company headed by O’Connell and Conlee very naturally enact tricky material. Excellent support is provided by the designers. Miriam Buether packs surprising angles in the scenery. Enver Chakartash fashions clothes that look true to character. Isabella Byrd creates lighting in many moods. Sound designer Bray Poor contributes subtle effects, bright music and clear reinforcement. With this inventive and cogent production of Churchill’s most recent plays, the Public Theater honors a remarkable writer whose mind-bending works have electrified its seasons on and off for nearly half a century.

Very notably, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. is mounted as a vaudeville evening with velvet curtain and vaudeville lights circling the proscenium. Set designer Miriam Buether’s sumptuous curtain and Isabella Bryd’s flashy lights are augmented between the first and second one-acts by Junru Wang, who pulls off an impressive balancing act; and later by Maddox Morfit-Tighe, an ultimately five-pins juggler. Highly adept at what they do, they’re also obviously employed to imply how the production is to be regarded. This is only vaudeville. Got it? So what if the production isn’t start-to-finish thoroughly effective? Like a vaudeville bill, there’s still enough to muse on satisfactorily.

“Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp” is being given a production that’s watchable enough – Deirdre O’Connell is the undeniable standout, but the entire cast is game, including a couple of circus acts in-between the plays (acrobat Junru Wang and juggler Maddox Morfit-Tighe) – so that you may be OK with not being able to grasp what it all means. Until you get home, and the plays continue in your head.