Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Top Girls review, Trafalgar Studios

Top Girls is a difficult one. Critics enjoy (or hate) the politics of the piece - the effect of Thatcherism on feminist values and understanding. Certainly the fruits of feminism are under the microscope.  In Marlene we have an anti-heroine - a woman who got to the top by leaving her child at home and stepping over bodies to head a recruitment agency. It's all money, power and pin-striped shoulder pads. Meanwhile, in the wilds, Marlene's troubled daughter, Angie, is grudgingly loved and cared for by Aunt Joyce.

Guess who's coming to dinner?
The opening scene of Top Girls famously has Marlene entertaining five characters from history, Pope Joan, Patient Griselda, Isabella Bird, Lady Nijo and Dull Gret. In a hilarious dinner party scene the five compete to tell their woes. Underlying the humour like a thrum are women who survived and to some extent prospered by giving away, abandoning or eschewing children within male power structures. Thus we examine assaults on femininity, before moving to feminism.

In the second half, Marlene shows nothing changes with women at the helm. She hasn't abandoned Angie because she had to - though she'd like to believe that - but because it aided her rise through the ranks. Like the men before her, it is a woman who facilitates that choice. Is feminism about individuality or community? Thatcherism is a fitting backdrop but, twenty years on, it is nothing more than that. The cast is superb. Suranne Jones is a powerful Marlene and there are winning turns from Olivia Poulet and Lisa Kerr as schoolgirl friends Angie and Kit - completely believable. Max Stafford-Clark's production has now transferred from the glorious Minerva Theatre, Chichester, to Trafalgar Studios.

In conclusion: A lively and sometimes very funny examination of the 'having it all' debate - the principles of which are set in stone, but could the frameworks be more imaginative? Beautifully set and lit it's still essential viewing.

References
Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph
Is Caryl Churchill our finest female playwright
London tickets from Trafalgar Studios
at

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous19 September 2011 at 15:07

    I thought the cast were fantastic and portrayed it very well. Oddly, the play didn't feel dated (even though it was written in the 80's) - partly because there was an element of hamming up the horrors of 80's hair and clothing - but mostly because all the issues are still relevant.

    And that's possibly why I came away feeling oddly deflated. Are women supposed to be happy because it's no longer legal to beat a wife with a stick no thicker than the husband's thumb? No. So much more needs to be done.

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  2. Anonymous26 September 2011 at 09:46

    I think you're right, and that's why it's still so relevant, because the issues are perennial. It's like we've got to Everest basecamp but not to the summit. That's why it has such an effect - it's a reminder.

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