About 50 people recently lined up around the lobby of Manhattan's Public Theater, hoping to snag a free ticket to a play that lasts roughly 20 minutes. The draw was Triumph, a new microplay from 88-year-old British dramatist Caryl Churchill, her first new work in five years, and demand has been strong.
A Five-Year Wait, Over in 20 Minutes
According to The New York Times, Triumph premiered at a black box theater seating 99 and began performances on October 8. The Public Theater scheduled the run through November 3 amid strong demand. The production was announced September 30, about a week before performances began on October 8. Tickets are free, but an advance reservation is required, according to the Public Theater, though seating is first-come, first-served.
Those who miss out on advance reservations still have a shot: standby tickets become available in person 30 minutes before each performance, per the same Public Theater listing.
Inspired by Suetonius, Aimed at Today's Headlines
Triumph draws its premise from The Twelve Caesars, the biographies of Roman emperors reportedly written by Hadrian's personal secretary around 121 A.D., according to the Times. The play follows Iris, a press secretary to the Roman emperors, a role played by Annaleigh Ashford alongside Joe Tapper as a journalist and Christopher Ryan Grant as Rufus, per the Public Theater's own production page. Saheem Ali directs the New York staging, which was timed to appear before the midterm elections.
The premise has drawn attention beyond the theater world for how directly it lands on contemporary politics. The Guardian frames the play as an argument that governments in the western world not only commit acts of extreme brutality but also attempt to massage them through skilled media presentation. The paper also situates Triumph within what it calls Churchill's recent turn toward “cosmic minimalism,” brief and bleak late-career work that it compares to earlier landmark plays like Cloud 9, Top Girls, Far Away, A Number and Escaped Alone.
A Joint Premiere, Twin Sellouts
Triumph is having a simultaneous world premiere with a production at London's Almeida Theatre, directed by James Macdonald and starring Matthew Beard and Kate O'Flynn, according to the Almeida Theatre. That staging is billed as a one-week-only run, and the Almeida notes that many performances have limited availability or appear sold out. The Times reports that the first batches of tickets sold out quickly in both New York and London.
Exactly how long the play runs depends on who you ask. TheaterMania clocked it at 22 minutes from lights up to curtain call, while the Almeida lists an approximate running time of 15 minutes, and a Guardian piece describes it as lasting 20 minutes. The Times itself settles on 20 minutes. TheaterMania also frames Triumph as one of several new political plays showing up at major nonprofit theaters these days, aimed at audiences already sympathetic to their anti-authoritarian message.
Why Some Fans Say It Was Worth the Wait
Not everyone needed convincing that a free, 20-minute play was worth the wait. Steven Strauss, another attendee quoted in the Times piece, put it simply: audiences cannot complain about value when admission costs nothing.
