Top Girls - Review

Top Girls by Carly Churchill is playing at the New Theatre. You won't often see a play like this. Top Girls has an all female cast. It is in three Acts, the first of which is very different from the other two.  It is almost like watching several different plays with a common theme.  Though there is one linking character - Marlene played by Julia Billington.

Act One is set in a restaurant and Marlene is holding a dinner party of remarkable woman from History.  Isabella Bird (Cheryl Ward) a Yorkshire lass born in 1831, between the ages of forty to seventy she travelled extensively throughout America. She spends most of the dinner self absorbed in her travels and family misgivings. Lady Nijo (Bishanyia Vincent) was an Emperor's courtesan and later a Buddhist nun who travelled on foot through Japan for twenty years.  She tells how she was banished from the court and how her children were taken from her. Dull Gret (Claudia Barrie) brings much of the humour to this first act. She is the subject of the Brueghel painting Dulle Griet, in which a woman in an apron and armour leads a crowd of women charging through hell and fighting devils.  Pope Joan (Sarah Aubrey) an Englishwoman who disguised as a man is thought to have been made Pope 854 - 856. She tells her tale and how she is discovered. Patient Griselda (Ainslie McGlynn) is the obedient wife whose story is told in "The Clerk's Tale" of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  All these woman have interesting stories, the only sad part is that little has changed for women particularly in some countries. 

Act Two and Three you learn more about Marlene's life and family. Scene One in Act two is set in the Garden, Claudia Barrie plays Angie and Maeve MacGregor plays her best friend Kit. This has to be one of my favourite scenes, it is beautifully written and the two actresses performance was faultless.  All the actresses were amazing. Sarah also played Mrs Kidd which was also, an outstanding performance. 

This whole production was very entertaining. It is a difficult one to stage with a limited budget, you have the restaurant, the garden, an open plan office and the inside of a house. The backdrop remained the same throughout. This is the only thing I would change, plain black curtains or maybe even the use of technology to project the different scenes might have been better. 

This is one of those plays that will stay with me for sometime.
There are plenty of remarkable woman in the world today, and I expect everyone will know a few.
Go and see Top Girls at the New Theatre. It is playing now until 3 August.