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1982

Top Girls

Written by Caryl Churchill

Play Details

Context

Artistic Director 
Max Stafford-Clark

Dates Performed

Wednesday 1st September 1982
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Play Details

Synopsis

London, 1980s. A world of high-powered women climbing the corporate ladder, their successes haunted by the ghosts of history and the spectre of an uncertain future.

Top Girls follows Marlene, a ruthlessly ambitious career woman celebrating her promotion to managing director of a top employment agency. As she hosts a surreal dinner party with famous women from history and legend, we delve into the complex web of Marlene’s past and present. Churchill masterfully interweaves Marlene’s story with those of her working-class sister Joyce and teenage niece Angie, exposing the harsh realities and painful choices faced by women in a man’s world.

Through a dazzling mix of time-bending narrative, sharp dialogue, and Brechtian techniques, Churchill explores themes of feminism, class struggle, and the price of success. As Marlene’s ruthless individualism clashes with Joyce’s socialist ideals, we’re left to question: in the quest for equality, who gets left behind? Top Girls offers a searing critique of Thatcher-era politics and a still-relevant examination of what it means to be a “successful” woman in a capitalist society.

Director(s)

Max Stafford-Clark

Photo credit

All images credited to Sue Adler

Cast & Creative

Cast

Carole Hayman

Cast

Deborah Findlay

Cast

Lindsay Duncan

Cast

Gwen Taylor

Cast

Leslie Manville

Cast

Selina Cadell

Cast

Lou Wakefield

Designer

Peter Hartwell

Lighting

Robin Myerscough-Walker

Costume

Pam Tait

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