Thatcherism and shifting female identity take centre stage in Caryl Churchill’s prescient drama.
It is nearly thirty years since Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls premiered at the Royal Court.
A funny, but brutal response to Thatcherism and an examination of shifting female identities, it is now part of the British theatrical canon.
The play is extraordinary for a number of reasons: the opening scene, where historical figures such as Pope Joan and Isabella Bird come together for a celebratory dinner; the fact that it is an all-female cast of seven (sadly, still unusual today) and the cutting insight Churchill provides into women and girls who can be both cruel and loving.
Max Stafford-Clark, who also directed the original production, keeps the 1980s aesthetic firmly in place, which risks the play being treated merely as a historical account rather than something immediately relevant.
There are aspects which do seem, thankfully, a part of our past, such as the wife who pleads with her husband’s new female boss to step down to save him the embarrassment of working under a woman.
For the most part however, this remains a play which speaks of things which, in the nightmarish final words of teenager Angie, are still “frightening”.
It is a joy to see a universally-strong female cast - Stella Gonet in particular makes a dramatic shift from plucky world-traveller Isabella Bird to frustrated working class Joyce.
Churchill’s take on the 1980s was incredibly prescient. Top Girls is a timely reminder of how Britain got itself into the state we find it today.
* Showing at the Trafalgar Studios in Whitehall, SW1, until Saturday, October 15.
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