Ambika P3 is an appropriate space for Caryl Churchill's strange, disturbing metaphorical play Far Away. It's located underneath the University of Westminster, accessed through loading doors, a large concrete and steel industrial space with a mezzanine floor and rooms with lower ceilings that lead off from the main space.
It's mostly sparse except for three main pockets of set, which you are led to by the cast, usually with a particular whistle, or the blank-faced ushers gesturing.
There is a farmland/open space area marked by wooden electric pylons. A domestic setting with a dining table, chairs, and a hat factory.
Far Away is a promenade theatre with a few chairs around two of the main sets, but not enough for everyone to sit. Is that on purpose, to divide, force decisions and judgment?
An eerie soundscape, sometimes industrial sounds, sometimes nature sounds, adds to the atmosphere. It feels unsettling and isolated, like the play.
There are three main acts with some interludes – a sequence of mime/movement, for example.
In the first act, a young girl can't sleep after seeing something outside. The second two workers discuss their working conditions as they race to create elaborate hats in an ever-shortening amount of time. And the third, a kitchen table discussion of the state of a world in conflict.
A domestic situation. A commercial situation. A global situation. This is a play that is firmly about ideas rather than narrative and character arcs.
With the girl's story, there is a sense of storytelling used as a means of denial. With the hat factory, the workers' morals are twisted; they want to make a stance against working conditions, but not the grim purpose of the hats they make. It makes art complicit in the horror.
In the kitchen table discussion, humans and nature are all at war with the impression of ever-changing lines and loyalties. A representation of climate disaster?
Others may interpret it differently, but I think that is the nature of the play: the juxtaposition of thoughts, ideas, and actions that wouldn't normally go together creates something both disturbing, challenging, and provocative.
The venue adds to the disconcerting nature of the piece. Small, intimate performances in vast concrete spaces, the audience as bystanders.
This isn't an easy watch, and some scenarios are more potent than others. It won't be for everyone, but I'm giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Practical note: There is no access to toilets at the venue before the performance, you will be directed to the neighbouring pub. While it is a relatively short play, there is inevitably quite a bit of standing, so comfortable shoes are advised.
Far Away, Ambika P3
Written by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Rebecca McCutcheon
Cast: Lorna Dale, Samuel Gosrani, and Lizzie Hopley.
Running time: 75 minutes without an interval
Booking until 23 August 2025, for more information and to buy tickets, visit the play's Eventbrite page
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