I would like to add my voice to the chorus of critical enthusiasm for this splendid production. Under Alice Livingstone’s excellent direction there are strong, very fine performances from all involved.
First performed in 1982, Caryl Churchill’s play is as fresh and powerful as if written yesterday. Powerplay and politics: the issues raised are still so extremely relevant, a woman having to choose between a family and children and career. It is also a blast at the Thatcherism of the period.
The play is complicated in plot and structure with time shifts and jumps, but basically the major set piece is an Act One dinner party at a posh restaurant to celebrate Marlene’s (Julia Billington) promotion.
The predominant colour for the first act is green. Gina Rose Drew’s designs are of a wonderful brick wall fireplace and window with a large table and lots of chairs. The diners are served by a silent waitress (Maeve MacGregor) in a short jaunty dress.
Marlene works at a recruitment agency, Top Girls, and in the other two acts we meet her sister Joyce (Sarah Aubrey) and niece Angie (Claudia Barrie). The attitudes of various employers are revealed and we see assorted clients and the stresses of working at the agency. Issues of childcare, ageism etc are explored.
We also see the sisterly bickering between Joyce and Marlene – Joyce rather resents Marlene’s dynamic life and career – and other explosive family secrets are revealed. Marlene’s many carefully constructed layers; her faces of power, career and self denial are brilliantly, painfully performed by Billington. A serial monogamist, Marlene has fled long term involvements in case they interfere with her career and grapples with difficult modern expectations.
The last two acts feature fine acting by Barrie as Angie, Marlene’s teenage niece, who dreams of escaping to London and being like her aunt. As one of my colleagues has suggested, in structure Top Girls could almost be two separate plays similar to Angels in America.
But it is the dinner party in Act One that this play is rightly famous for, and it is an extraordinary set piece, marvellously performed. Marlene is hostess (in a gorgeous red dress) and her guests, a mix of fictional and real women, include the gruff, bluff Victorian explorer Isabella Bird (Cheryl Ward looks straight out of a daguerreotype of the era and has a wonderful leafy themed costume). Bird was well-known for her dislike of Australia and in some ways represents a defining section of Marlene’s self.
Aubrey, doubling up as the 9th century Pope Joan, is amazing, like a Holbein miniature. Then there’s the roughly mannered Dull Gret (Claudia Barrie) from Flemish folklore; the ultra-refined 13th century Japanese courtesan Lady Nijo (Bishanyia Vincent) in white face with high butterfly like eyebrows in a shimmering gold and white kimono; and nymph-like Griselda, buxom and blossoming in a flowing white gown and a wreath in her hair.
In this act especially you notice the overlapping/interruption of speeches and the disjunction of rhythm, how each woman concentrates on herself as each of the women’s rather horrific stories are told. They mourn lost loves and children and speak frankly about men and sex. Jokes are interspersed with tragic stories. Each of them in some way highlights a feminist issue and defies categorization, and each should be proud of her achievements.
A magnificent production of this challenging, thought-provoking play.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Top Girls
By Caryl Churchill
Director: Alice Livingstone
Assistant Director/Dramaturg: Fiona Hallenan-Barker
Set & Costume Designer: Gina Rose Drew
Lighting Designer: Sara Swersky
Sound Designer: Ashley Walker
Make-up Designer: Tahlia Tkalec
Vocal Coach: Emma Louise
Lighting/Sound Operator: Johannes Swaton
Cast: Sarah Aubrey, Claudia Barrie, Julia Billington, Maeve MacGregor, Ainslie McGlynn, Bishanyia Vincent and Cheryl Ward
New Theatre, Newtown
9 July – 3 August
