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.