The Skriker

If the earth could speak to us today, what would it say? Would it manifest itself to us openly and benevolently for the sake of healing, or would it appear mysteriously and malevolently via totemic signs and occult channels: a protean assassin seeking vengeance? British playwright Caryl Churchill explores this horrifying question by charting the machinations of its title character, a “shape shifter and death portent, ancient and damaged” as s/he infiltrates the souls of two teenage mothers, seducing them through paranormal means into homicidal madness and loss. The three travel between parallel universes in elastic time, alternating between contemporary urban landscapes and fantastical realms inhabited by mythological figures.