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1991

Top Girls

Written by Caryl Churchill

Play Details

Context

Artistic Director 
Max Stafford-Clark

Dates Performed

Thursday 18th April 1991
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

Cast & Creative

Cast

Lesley Manville

Cast

Beth Goddard

Cast

Deborah Findlay

Cast

Sarah Lam

Cast

Lesley Sharp

Cast

Cecily Hobbs

Cast

Anna Patrick

Designer

Anabel Temple

Lighting

Steve Whitson

Costume

Pam Tait

Sound

Byran Bowen

Sound

Orlando Gough (music)

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