(Rated 4/5 )
I became curious about this play when reading about play structure. It has a very unusual set-up and yet follows conventional rules of heightening drama. But enough on technicalities and theories…
I first read the script when I was confined to a lot of sitting around having broken my ankle. The writing was powerful and intriguing enough to transport me into the worlds of Marlene and her contemporary (1980s) family and colleagues as well as her historical, fictional and mystical dinner-party guests from times gone by. Finishing the play I was left with a strong feeling of wanting to see it staged…
The opportunity came when Suranne Jones took on the role of Marlene and the production arrived in London having been transferred following a highly successful run at The Minerva Theatre in Chichester. In keeping with the themes of the play, as the audience wait for the interesting and varied women to join Marlene in celebration of her work promotion, the back screen shows a montage of famous women from now and many thens – the fun part to see how many you can identify. And while you do that to think about what impact they have made on our world and our lives. The power and influence of womankind! And that is exactly what the play inspires you to contemplate as it presents us with a multitude of scenes involving women making their way apart from men; with men; without men; in spite of men; as inspirations to men; working, having children and the two together or not; abused by men or celebrated by them; in positions of power or almost enslaved – all about the essences of womankind; real, created and imagined. There are no male characters and yet in a way they are conspicuous by their absence and that makes their presence and influence felt.
Marlene has won a promotion over a man but only – it would seem – by rejecting her disabled daughter to the care of her sister. In the third act we see the two sisters conflict over the different lives they have chosen or had chosen for them. And in the second act we see women at different levels and abilities in Marlene’s agency – living their working lives and bringing out the politics of women making careers in the 1980s. It may sound dated and yet still feels relevant for today.
As someone who tends to wander off in her mind to past times, I was most fascinated by the scene at the beginning of the play in which Marlene welcomes the possibly fictitious legendary13th century Pope Joan, Chaucer’s character Patient Griselda, World-Traveller and Natural Historian Isabella Bird from the 19th century, Japanese Emperor’s Concubine turned Buddhist Nun Lady Nijo; also from the 13th century, and subject of the 1562 painting by Pieter Breughel; Dull Gret, to a contemporary restaurant meal. These women come across as very real; inspiring and annoying, strong and weak, as they share their stories of courage, challenge, pain and trauma in their journeys towards their goals. Each of them bring so much to the scene and the whole play that I really missed them when they were gone. That said the actresses themselves had not gone, as they all – aside of course from Suranne Jones who was playing Marlene throughout – doubled, or in some cases tripled, up as other characters during the rest of the play. All but Dull Gret – played superbly by Olivia Poulet, who later equally and impressively plays Marlene’s daughter – constantly interrupt each other, making the naturalness of the exchanges highly remarkable. I found it interesting to monitor my own responses to them. I felt irritated by Lady Nijo and Patient Griselda as they spoke about their suffering at the hands of men and mostly in relation to their children. I’m sure that is intentional, bringing up the core issues which Caryl Churchill was dealing with in relation to feminism; we want women to have equal power and rights and are used to that being the case today in 2011. It makes us cringe to hear these stories of abuse and ill-treatment from women, who in their time and culture (Lady Nijo) and according to their personality of patience and obedience, simple accept it. However I found Isabella’s attention-demanding moaning about her illnesses and accompanying self-glorification also annoying. I think that probably says more about me and my own lack of moaning about my disabilities and modesty about my abilities ;). Dull Gret provided great comedy as she stole food and crockery from the table and looked bemused about how she should eat and drink. Pope Joan was the most bizarre maybe – to me she came across as the strongest of the women and yet to become a pope in the thirteenth century she had to dress as a man and succeeded until her woman’s body betrayed her by giving birth as she rode her horse in a public parade! As they all get progressively more drunk she resorts to a multitude of lamentations in Latin. It turns out Dull Gret has had the most children and seems completely unphased by it all. Our hostess, Marlene, says nothing about having any children. We discover the truth later as we go back in time. Marlene is a success in business but, I would argue, not in life. She believes her own child to be unworthy of a job and doesn’t seem to be able to hold down a relationship. Success, of course, depends on your point of view but she, like all her dinner guests, seems to have suffered just as much though differently to achieve her career goals. Suranne Jones is very lovely and convincing as in all roles I have seen her. The only thing I would say is this role felt similar to many others she has played and I wonder if she suffers a little from type-casting. I’d love to see her play something completely different.
Perhaps amusingly by the end of the whole play I felt Dull Gret to be the most successful. Maybe it is her fight against the strangely shaped devils to kill off all evil done to her and her nearest and dearest and symbolically it feels as though she has psychologically defeated all impediments to success in all aspects of life.
P.S. Trafalgar Studios is a theatre without circles. There are simply stall seats going up and up. Apparently, according to a box office lady who sold me Top Girls tickets, ‘all seats are good seats’. Prior to this I saw Lenny Henry’s Othello, and even though further back on that occasion I still had a very good view. This time it was even better and I was also armed with my opera glasses. I did, however, find my seat a little uncomfortable – perhaps too upright. And again there’s the issue of needing a friendly arm to support you to your seat if you have challenge of the lower limbs.
Top Girls – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2011
Twitter: @RestrictReview
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