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Top Girls

by Caryl Churchill

article in SF Weekly Night & Day (May 29, 2002)

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The revised Kamasutra isn't the only place where women are on top this week: In playwright Caryl Churchill's feminist classic Top Girls, the so-called weaker sex proves it's not so weak after all. A thinly disquised critique of Margaret Thacher's conservative 1980s England, the show opens at a surreal dinner party thrown by Marlene, a powerful corporate headhunter, celebrating her promotion at the Top Girls Emplyament Agency. Her guests -- Lady Nijo, a 13th century concubine turned Buddist nun, and 19th century explorer Isabella Bird, among them -- are a mishmash of prominent females from different countries and eras. But Marlene's modern-day woes make up the bulk of the play. One would think the topic ripe for man-bashing, but Chruchill's too sophisticated for cheap shots; her complex analysis acknowledges how far we've come and how much further we have to go.
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