KNEEL AT THE CHURCH OF CHURCHILL

A drum roll begins each act and ends with a cymbal crash. Paired with the red front curtain and chaser lights outlining the proscenium arch, one might brace for another revival of Cabaret. But when the curtain opens at The Public‘s Martinson Theater, it becomes instantly clear we are not in the Kit Kat Klub—we are deep in the uncannily imaginative world of Caryl Churchill (Top Girls, Cloud 9).

Deirdre O’Connell

Miriam Buether’s enticing set design announces this shift with authority: in Glass, the cast is on a floating ledge suspended in midair; in Kill, God peers down from a floating cloud; in What If If Only, a pristine white box of a room glides in and out; and in Imp, even realistic living room furniture seems to float atop an area rug. Each setting is executed with a visual boldness that gently (and sometimes jarringly) unmoors us from reality, inviting us instead into the peculiar and potent theatrical realm that Churchill crafts with such precision and grace.

Adelind Horan, Ayana Workman, Japhet Balaban, and Sathya Sridharan

Between the first two plays, in front of the closed curtain, we are treated to a thrilling interlude: balancing artist Junru Wang astounds with circus-defying control and flexibility. Later, juggler Maddox Morfit-Tighe charms the crowd with effortless skill. These interstitial performances may seem unexpected, but they contribute to a delightful vaudevillian sensibility.

Cecilia Ann Popp, Sathya Sridharan, and John Ellison Conlee

An ensemble of eight actors—ranging from bright new faces to seasoned stage veterans—brings Churchill’s quartet to life. Among them, the widely respected Deirdre O’Connell of Dana H. and the ever-compelling John Ellison Conlee anchor the evening with gravitas and nuance.

John Ellison Conlee, Adelind Horan, and Deirdre O’Connell

In Glass, Ayana Workman is poignant as a girl made of glass, with Sathya Sridharan as her brother, and Adelind Horan and Japhet Balaban rounding out the cast. The actors later transform into the inanimate objects on a mantelpiece—a clock, a kitschy red plastic dog, a vase—imbuing each with truthful sincerity. Director James MacDonald handles the play’s seven quick scenes with minimalist finesse, building to a haunting final moment punctuated by Bray Poor’s unsettling shattering sound design.

Adelind Horan, Ayana Workman, Sathya Sridharan, and Japhet Balaban

Kill is perhaps the most biting of the four. O’Connell plays a disillusioned God surveying human carnage from a floating cloud. She catalogues a range of violence—committed in the name of power or faith—with increasing frustration. She cries out, “No, don’t do that; it’s enough. We don’t like it now. Don’t do it. We say stop, please stop!” It lands less like divine judgment than a desperate, all-too-human plea—a line that could be directed at contemporary politics as easily as mythic history.

Japhet Balaban and John Ellison Conlee

In What If If Only, Sridharan delivers a measured performance as Someone reflecting at a table on a painter who spends years rendering a realistic apple—and then even more time drawing an unrealistic one. The piece is the most enigmatic of the evening. Ghosts of futures, pasts, and present enter the room, crowd the stage, and urge the protagonist to action. The final line—spoken by a child: “I’m going to happen”—is both chilling and hopeful.

Sathya Sridharan

The final piece, Imp, occupies all of Act II and stands as the emotional heart of the evening. O’Connell and Conlee play Dot and Jimmy, cousins and quiet companions who pass their time playing chess and trading small, thorny barbs. They’re visited by Niamh (Horan), a niece-want-to-be with a tormented heart, and Rob (Balaban), a homeless, jobless, lost soul estranged from his son. Across twelve deceptively simple scenes, relationships shift, secrets surface—including Dot’s mysterious possession of a bottle containing an imp—and love blooms. Churchill’s writing here is spare yet rich, packed with ambiguity. The scenes’ unresolved moments are its most resonant, lingering like echoes of meaningful silence.

Ayana Workman and Sathya Sridharan

With MacDonald’s deft direction, top-tier design, and a deeply committed ensemble, this evening of Churchill shorts is both a celebration and an immersion—into the surreal, the cerebral, and the emotionally raw. For a couple hours, we are invited to step away from the familiar logic of realism and into Churchill’s odd, dazzling world—and what a creation it is.

John Ellison Conlee and Deirdre O’Connell

photos by Joan Marcus

Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
The Public Theater, Anspacher Theater, 425 Lafayette Street
2 hours and 15 minutes with intermission
Tues-Sun at 7:00; Sat & Sun at 1:30 (check for variances)
ends on May 11, 2025
for tickets, call 212.967.7555 or visit The Public

Deirdre O’Connell

Gregory Fletcher is an author, a theater professor, a playwright, director, and stage manager. His craft book on playwriting is entitled Shorts and Briefs, and publishing credits include two YA novels (Other People’s Crazy, and Other People’s Drama), 2 novellas in the series Inclusive Bedtime Stories (Tom and Huck Sitting in a Tree, and The Never Land Hoax), 2 short stories in The Night Bazaar series, and several essays. Website, Facebook, Instagram.