Feminist Theatre from a Thatcherite Age

The performance of Top Girls at Trafalgar Studios was a great rendition of Caryl Churchill’s arguably best play. Written in 1982 during the peak of the Thatcherite era, Top Girls represents an outspoken critique against the bourgeoisie feminism that defined the age. The neoliberal policies espoused by the Prime Minister are doused with sarcastic and witty commentaries that portray her absurd and misguided philosophies.

            It is within this context that the first act takes place, as a deeply satirical and fantastic scene. The play opens on a plain stage, with a white-cloth dining table dominating the center. The layout of the seating in Trafalgar Studios, because of its vertically designed amphitheatre that allows the audience to feel intimately connected with the stage, is a perfect setting for the scene. It begins with a well-dressed waitress who serves and seats a collection of historical, female figures. The main character Marlene, played by Suranne Jones, is an ambitious career woman who happens to be celebrating her recent promotion in this dreamlike setting. She is joined by a female pope, a Victorian-age traveler, a concubine of a Japenese Emperor, a Viking peasant, and a princess from the Canterbury Tales. As the scene unfolds it becomes clear that each of these female figures has had to make serious sacrifices in the way of their family lives. Ranging from the Canterbury Tales princess who remained loyal and dedicated to her husband despite the fact that he claimed to kill her children, to the female pope who willingly forsake her own personal life in the name of the Church, all of these characters seem to portray the negative consequences of sacrificing one’s personal life for one’s career. Additionally, the dialogue itself seems to reflect the characters’ self-centered personality as each tries to out-do each other with their individual stories, and interrupt each other in the process. The entire scene gives the impression of a cast filled with impressive stories. However, with no one listening to each other, or demonstrating concern about the lack of family life so clearly evident in their lives, the viewer is left to reflect upon the impossibility of women rectifying their careers within a healthy family.

            

On this topic the next two acts of the play unfold. Neither of which carry the weight of the first act, but which continue the plot in a non-linear fashion. It becomes clear that Marlene has escaped from poverty by pursuing a career in an employment agency, but at the cost of abandoning her child Angie, played by Olivia Poulet. Angie represents a hopeful, yet dim-witted lost cause who appears destined to suffer a life of loneliness. In this sense, the play asks the audience to reflect upon the consequences of pure individualist philosophy and to understand the negative effects it has on society. The play presents a persuasive argument against the model of feminism that existed during the Thatcher era, and seems to support a more nuanced view of what female freedom should entail. Churchill suggests that instead of females sacrificing their lives for careers in the name of feminism, that they should be more concerned with their role in society at large, and in this respect Top Girls represents an important work of social commentary.