Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

Top Girls 

In short----

Caryl Churchill-

About Writer - born -3 September 1938 ( age 81 years) London, United Kingdom. She is a British playwright know for dramatist the abuses of power, for her use of non - naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

The doughter of Jan Brown, a fashion model, and Robert Churchill, a political cartoonist.

After World War ii , her family emigrated to Montreal , Quebec , Canada, Churchill was ten years old. In Montreal, she attended Trafalgar School for Girls.

She returned to England to attend University and in 1960 she graduated from Lady Margaret Hall , a women's college at Oxford University with a B.A degree in English Literature. She also began her writing career there.

In 1961 she married David Harter. They have three sons and live in Hackney, East London.

It was while raising a family in the 1960s. and ' 70s that Churchill began to write short radio dramas for BBC radio. She also wrote television plays for the BBC, including The After Dinner Joke 1978.

1961 Richard Hillary Memorial Prize

1988 Laurence Olivier/BBC Aword for Best New Play, Serous Money and more.

Books - Blue Heart, This is a Chair, and more.

Top Girls

Introduction

Top Girls is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It centres around Marlene, a career driven woman who is heavily invested in women's success in business. The play examines the roles available to women in modern society, and what it means or takes for a woman to succeed. It also dwells heavily on the cost of ambition and the influence of That cherite politics on feminism.

Characters 

Marlene - 👩‍🎤 The central protagonist of Top Girls, who has just been promoted to managing director at the employment agency where she works.

Joyce - Angie's adoptive mother and Marlene's sister.

Angie - Marlene ' s 16 year old biological doughter who was adopted by Joyce.

Kit - Angie ' s younger next- door neighbour and closest friend.

5 dinner guests in act 1

Isabella Bird - An English woman who lived from 1831-1904. Feels obligated to her family, but she also loves to be free of responsibility.

Lady Nijo - A concubine to the Emperor of Japan in the 13th century, and later, a Buddhist nun. She had 4 children, all of whom were taken away from her. 

Dull Gret -Led the women of her village against the Spanish soldiers, the cause of their grief and oppression.

Patient Griselda - She is based on the character of the obedient wife in the "Clerk's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Pope Joan - Pope from 854-856. Joan is a brilliant and we'll versed in philosophy, theology, metaphysics and poetry.

Jeanine

Win - Louise

Howard Kidd - Mrs Kidd

Nill - Shona

Theme -

Women and Careers,

Language and Identify,

England and Feminist Politics,

Aggression and Female Relationship.

Summary

In the play opens in a restaurant, where Marlene is waiting for some friends to arrive. She is throwing a dinner party to celebrate her promotion at the employment agency where she works. As the women arrive and Start the meal, they begin to talk about their lives and what they did.

Each of her guests is a historical, fictional or mythical woman who faced adversity and suffered bitterly to attain her goals, has already brought the starter and is preparing to serve the main courses.

All the women except Marlene discuss their dead lovers. They also recall the children that they bore and subsequently lost. Nijo baby was of royal blood, so he couldn't be seen with her. Pope Joan was stoned to death when it was therefore female and committing heresy. Griselda was told that her two children had been killed, in a cruel test of her loyalty to her husband, after dessert, the women sit drinking brandy, unconsciously imitating their male counterparts.

Two girls, Angie and Kit, are playing in Angie's backyard. Angie is abrasive and argumentative with both her friend and her mother, Joyce. She and Kit fight and Angie says she is going to kill her mother. Kit doesn't believe her, and they start to talk about sex. Angie accuses Kit's mother 0f sleeping around, but it becomes apparent that neither of them know what they are talking about, Kit is only 12 and Angie is quite immature for her sixteen years.

They then express their congratulations to Marlene for getting the top job. The scene then shifts to Marlene at the agency where she works, interviewing a girl named Jeanine. Marlene takes a fancy to her even though she seems lost and helpless. She doesn't know what type of job she wants only that she wants to travel and be with her husband.

Win meets Louise, a client who after conscientiously working for many years at the same firm is deciding to quit. She slowly opens up to Win, describing how she had dedicated her life to her job, working evenings at the expense of her social life, without reward . She has found herself at 46, with no husband or life outside of work, in a position where she trains mens who are consistently promoted over her . The action then switched to Marlene's office where Angie arrives , having taken the bus from Joyce' s house in the country. She is shy and awkward and her presence is clearly an unwelcome surprise to let Angie stay at her place overnight.

They are interrupted by Mrs. Kidd , the wife of Howard, who was passed up for promotion in favour of Marlene. Mrs. Kidd tells Marlene how much the job means to her husband, how devastated he is, and questions whether the job means to her husband , how devastated he is, and questions whether she should be doing a ' man's job' . It becomes clear that she is asking Marlene to step down and let her husband have the job instead, which Marlene firmly decline to do. She tried to clear Mrs. Kidd out of her office, but Mrs. Kidd only becomes more insistent until Marlene finally screams at her to " piss off'.

Meanwhile, Shona arrives in Nell's office looking for job opportunities. At first Nell is impressed by her surprisingly accomplished resume, but quickly figures out that Shona is  underaged and making it all up as she goes. At the same time, Angie is having a conversation with Win about Angie's aunt and Win's life , but falls asleep in the news that Howard has  had a heart attack . Marlene is informed but is unperturbed, and Nell responds "Lucky he didn't get the job if that's what his health's like".

The final act takes place a year earlier in Joyce kitchen. Marlene, Joyce and Angie share stories with each other. Angie is very happy that her aunt (Marlene) is there, since she looks up to her and thinks that she is wonderful. Shortly before Angie goes to bed, Marlene pulls a bottle of whiskey out of her bag to drink with Joyce tells Marlene that Angie is neither particularly bright nor talented and it is unlikely that she will ever make anything of herself. Marlene tries to brush this off , saying that Joyce is just running Angie down ,as this rober reality contradicts Marlene's doughter, who she abandoned to Joyce's care possibly causing Joyce to lose the child she was carrying from the stress.

Conclusion -

- Reflect the contrast between American feminism celebrating the Success of individualistic women and British socialist feminism, which involves collective group gain .

Argues for feminism where women are to care for the weak and downtrodden, including those in her own gender.

The works generated by Churchill have had a lasting effect on theatrical practices, trading, gender stereotypes the past two decades, and until the present day.