Themes in Far Away such as the imposed fear from the government
a clearly linked to the socio-political context in which Caryl Churchill wrote
it within. After the struggles many faced in the 80s under the prime ministerial
reign of Margret Thatcher, the 90s (in which we can assume the play was
written, due to it being published in 2000) was an era of highly politically
minded, socially conscious people, thereby giving Thatcher’s resignation and
the election of Tony Blair more prominence. Blair attained early public
popularity, (the great controversy of his choice to aid the invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq only occurring in 2001, and 2003 respectively) and this combined with
the truce made with the IRA and the concluding of the recession into a time of
rapid economic growth and sharp drop in unemployment rates, made the 90s an
uneventful decade. However, it was not without its issues both from a militant
and social standpoint. From 1990 to 1991 was the Gulf War, in which the UK was
the largest contingent of any European state that participated in the war’s
combat operations, by the end of which there were a total of 47 deaths out of
the 341 coalition deaths. This clearly relates to Far Away due to the war time
scenario.
The 90s was also a time of great technological advancement,
with a notable increase in personal computer ownership; and scientific
development, with progressions in cloning with the famous Dolly the sheep, and
genetically modified crops becoming available for commercial use. These
advancements combined with natural disasters such as hurricane Andrew, and the
Midwestern heatwave in America; the Hanshin earthquake in Japan, the eruption of
Mount Pinatubo after 600 years of inactivity in the Philippines, and the
Chernobyl disaster; seem to have influenced Churchill as to the weaponisation
of nature as part of Far Away, as she notes the dangers of genetic engineering
(as in A Number) in creating an unstable world.
Far Away also seems to draw upon the horrific discrimination
of World War 2, specifically the Holocaust, as a parade of people are lead to
their assumed deaths. This may have been relevant to Churchill’s situation as,
whilst society progressed with third-wave feminism and the World Health
Organisation removing homosexuality from its list of illnesses (the DSMR), it
was recognised that social institutions, most notably the police, were guilty
of institutionalised racism. For instance, in 1998 the chief constable of the
Greater Manchester Police confessed as such, saying that ‘they have
acknowledged their problems and they are going to move forward’. So Churchill
may have been commenting on this and reminding people of its dangers if not
prevented by referring to such an extreme and tragic example.
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