Top Girls by Caryl Churchill - Essay Example

Top Girls by Caryl Churchill Top Girls is a 1982 play by Carly Churchill. This play revolves around a young woman Marlene in her quest to establish herself as a career woman. Key characters in the play include Marlene, Pope Joan, Lady Nijo, Dull Gret, Patient Griselda, and Isabella Bird. All these characters except Marlene are iconic female figures either fictional or real in different historical eras (Churchil, 3). Other characters include Angie, Nell Joyce, Win, Kit, Louise, Mrs. Kidd, Shona, and Jeanine.

This play orbits around women’s freedom, socioeconomic and political roles in the society. Act 1 is set up in a fashionable restaurant in London. Marlene is celebrating with five women her promotion to the position of managing director. This scene is somehow bizarre, as all the five women have existed in varied historical epochs either real or imaginary. Somehow, all of them portray women’s struggle against oppression and patriarchy. For instance, Lady Nijo is married off to the Empire of Japan at age 14 (Churchil, 12).

Eventually, she ends up being a Buddhist nun. Throughout act one, all these women save for Marlene, talk of their children, and former lovers; their stories depict a sense of success, loss and destiny.Act 2 is set up at Marlene workplace. She is interviewing Jeanine for a position. Jeanine portrays the character traits of a traditional woman; her needs to marry young, and have children are despised by Marlene. In the second scene of act 2, Angie and Kit are having a discussion in Joyce’s backyard.

They speak of going to watch an x-rated film and Angie’s desire to kill Joyce (her mother). Eventually, in Act 3, it is established that Angie’s biological mother is not Joyce but Marlene. The third scene of act 2 is set up at Top Girls employment agency on a Monday morning (Churchil, 13). Two women Win and Nell are discussing their sexual encounters with men. On arrival of Marlene, they congratulate her on accounts that she has managed to secure the position of managing director position over Howard.

In act 3, Marlene ends up fighting with her sister Joyce. Joyce feels that Angie’s future is gloom as long as England is run by the likes of Marlene and Margret Thatcher the then Prime Minister. Joyce believes that women like Marlene have misplaced priorities. Eventually, Marlene apologizes but Joyce will have none of that.Top Girl commences in a 1980 London background of an up market restaurant. Props used on the restaurant depict elegance that can only a successful career woman can afford.

In its illusory opening, Churchill uses costumes to bring in an authentic mise-en-scene. For instance, Pope Joan is dressed as a man. The mannerism of the five women in act 1 is very masculine. This is portrayed by their egocentric talk, maudlin and drinking habits. In scene two, Marlene is interviewing Jeanine in a modern office at the agency. The furniture in her office is modern and expensive; this brings out the theme of affluence and independence. Marlene’s manner of speech during the interview portrays a woman who is confident, educated, and successful in contrast to Jeanine.

Churchill also uses figurative language and silence to bring out the brutishness of Dull Gret. Throughout act 1, this character does not speak that much. Whenever she speaks, her words are crude. In one instance she says “Big cock” a clearly rough word. Churchill tries to portray women’s advancement is social, economic, and politic scene throughout the play. He uses a modern woman who is career driven and successful to depict this. In act 1, he brings out oppression, some level of success, freedom, and destiny through five historic characters.

In the subsequent acts, he compares the modern woman role in society advancement and contrasts it with what the traditional roles of a woman have been. Overall, the play sets up a stage for women advancement in career, financial freedom, and politics. Works CitedChurchill, Caryl. Top Girls. London: Methuen, 1982. Print.