Top Girls

Off to the lovely New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich yesterday evening to see Top Girls by Caryl Churchill.

Nick and I last saw the work quite a long time ago, but the play, which was written in the 1980's, has maintained its freshness and relevance.  It is a meditation on the condition of women in society, prompted when written by the phenomenon of Britain's first female Prime Minister, and also by the increasing number of women who were making it into highly paid jobs. 

The problem with Mrs T, as many saw it was that she may have been a woman, but she was not really a 'sister'.  Despite having little truck with feminism herself, she actually was a worked example of a woman who got to the top while coping with predjudice and also the demands of home and family.  None the less, and not altogether suprisingly,  she was not appreciated by the many women who were deeply affected by the changes in society that she promoted.

The high point of the play is the perfectly choreographed first act in which a late 20th century high flying female headhunter entertains controversial 'Top Girls' from the past to dinner in a restaurant (pictured above).  Pope Joan, Patient Griselda, Lady Nijo, the explorer Izabella Bird and Dull Gret reveal their individual difficulties and the price that they have paid for their fame,  over several bottles of wine. Their conversation brilliantly expresses, in an admittedly rather extreme form, the pecularities and problems of being a woman that the more mundane protagonists of the second two acts play out in a twentieth century context.  The play makes clear that it is not possible to 'have it all', as was suggested by the Superwomen of the late 20th century.

Beautifully played by an all female cast, it was good to see a modern play that has stood the test of time and gave us a lot to think about.