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.
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