Posthuman Ecocriticism in Carly Churchill’s Plays Far Away and A Number

This article analyzes posthuman ecocriticism in two dystopic plays Far Away (2000) and A Number (2002) by the British playwright Carly Churchill. Posthuman ecocriticism challenges and dismantles traditional dichotomies. It complicates the contemporary narratives of the meaning of humans and presents a new way of understanding human subjects in relation to nonhumans in general. In her two plays, Caryl Churchill is concerned with the debate of being human and the changes in human being’s perception of identification, description, and communication with each other and nonhuman entities. This article analyses how Caryl Churchill subverts the traditional boundaries between humans and nonhumans, repositions human and nonhuman relations, and builds upon the idea of nonhumans as entities independent from human beings. In Far Away, she presents a dystopic vision of the world, displaces anthropocentric perceptions of humans and nonhumans, and points out nonhumans’ independent agency. In A Number, she deals with the identity of human beings and the development of nonhuman forms by human-made science, the cloning experiments. In these plays, Churchill disturbs the anthropocentric perspective by pointing out that human beings are part of a larger family with other species and their existence depends on the awareness of the existence of all living beings. She blurs the divisions and differences between human and nonhuman, culture and nature, subject and object.