Top Girls
Reviewed by David Kashimba
Photo by Wendell H. Wilson
The opening scene in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls sets the theme in a flash of comic brilliance. A long table is filled with fictional and historical women there to celebrate the central character Marlene (Loring Williams) – a modern woman who has achieved a certain status and monetary success in a man’s world. All the historical women attempt to tell their story at the same time causing a comic confusion. Pope Joan (Carolyn Power) tells her story of how she disguised herself as a man and eventually became a priest, a cardinal and then pope in the 850’s. Her reign came to a violent end when she gave birth to a child. Lady Nija (Lina Makdisi) became consort to the Emperor of Japan in the late 1200’s. She appears slightly insane as she tells the story of how her children were taken from her at childbirth. There’s also a woman Viking and a woman right out of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. They’re all women who made their way in a man’s world throughout history. All their stories are at once interesting, comic and tragic. They’re all women who made their mark but had to sacrifice a great deal to get there.
In scene two and for the rest of the play we focus on Marlene making it in a man’s world in England in the 1980’s. Though the tone remains comic, it becomes more and more serious as it focuses on what Marlene has given up for her career. This play “deals with women losing their humanity in order to attain power in a male-dominated environment,” said Churchill. “What are the sacrifices we make to attain a place in a patriarchal society? What are the social and economic conditions that govern and restrict human possibility? What is at stake in the feminist struggle for societal transformation?”
Directed by Cris Cassell, Top Girls is playing at the historic Ross Valley Players which is celebrating its 80th anniversary of award-winning performances. For more information about the play or Ross Valley Players’ 80th celebration call 415-456-9555 or visit www.rossvalleyplayers.com.