Main Facts
Caryl is an English playwright and women’s rights activists. She was born on September 3rd, 1938, in London. In the 1960’s and 70’s, she wrote plays for the BBC radio and television. In 2009, she produced the contentious play Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza.
Early Life
At the age of 10, she moved to Canada with her family. She returned to London to attend college. During her studies at the Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall, she penned the plays: Downstairs, Have a Wonderful Time, and Easy Death, which were staged by drama groups in Oxford. After her graduation, she chose to stay in London.
Radio and Television Plays
Her radio and television scripts are characterized by fast setting changes and brief scenes. One of her most famous T.V. plays is The Judge’s Wife (1973). During the same period, she also needed to look after her family. She became David Harter’s spouse in 1961, and the couple had three sons.
Plays for the Theater
In 1972, her first professional play, which bears the title Owners, was staged in London. In 1974, she became Resident Dramatist of the Royal Court. In the 1980s, she cooperated with many theater companies and produced works such as Cloud Nine, and A Mouthful of Birds, co-authored with David Lan. She received three Obie awards for the works of this period. In 1988, she also received a Society of West End Theatre Award.
As the 1990s drew nearer, the element of ethereality became increasingly evident in her works. She still addressed sexual politics by adopting a feminist viewpoint. The play she produced in 1991, Lives of the Great Prisoners, was experimental and included singing, dance, and mime. Other plays of the 1990s are Mad Forest and The Skriker. She continued her contribution to drama by writing the play Far Away in 2000, which was directed by the acclaimed director Steven Daldry. In 2004, her new version of A Dream Play by Strindberg became a National Theater production. In 2009, Seven Jewish Children- A Play A for Gaza, sparked great controversy because of its depiction of the Israeli people.
Tributes and Ongoing Work
In 2010, the new theater of Surrey’s Royal Holloway College was renamed after her; in that same year, she was inducted in the American Theater Hall of Fame. 2014 saw the release of her play Love and Information, a product of her involvement in the New York Theater Workshop.
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