Top Girls
Caryl Churchill
Learning Objective
• To become familiar with the wider
context of the play
• To understand the characters and their
function
Reminder of the Paper 2 expectations
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Format of Paper 2
Paper 2: Essay
Duration: 2 hours
Weighting: 25%
Studying 3 texts but answer a comparative
question on at least two of the following texts:
• A View from the Bridge
• Hedda Gabler
• Top Girls
Reminder of the Paper 2 objectives
1. Consider the changing historical, cultural and social contexts
in which particular texts are written or received
2. Demonstrate how the formal elements of the text, genre and
structure can not only be seen to influence meaning but can
also be influenced by context
3. Understand the attitudes and vaules expressed by literary
texts and their impact on the readers
Context- Churchill’s Questions
• Quotes by Churchill:
• ‘Playwrights don’t give answers, they ask questions.’ – Discuss
this and feedback. Consider the other plays we have studiedwere Miller and Ibsen asking questions.
• She asks quite a few questions in ‘Top Girls’ which we need to
answer for ourselves.
• In ‘Top Girls’ Churchills asks, ‘Is it more important
to break out of a cycle of poverty and ‘make
something of yourself’, or to fulfil your
responsibilities to your family and community?
• If you are a woman, are you more likely to answer
this question in a certain way?
• How can a woman balance the demands of a
career and motherhood?
• What actually constitutes success in life?’
Top Girls has become emblematic of
contemporary woman’s struggle!
• Churchill wrote the play as a response to the election
of Margaret Thatcher.
• Some thought that her rise to power in politics was as
indicative of progress for women.
• Churchill worried that Thatcher’s right wing politics
benefited a minority of wealthy Britons while leaving
the less fortunate behind.
• The play voices her concerns regarding social
emphasis on capitalist success over sisterly solidarity.
• To confront the era’s broad ranging political dilemmas,
she compares and contrasts the lives of two sisters.
• Churchill wrote ‘Top Girls’ in opposition to
Thatcherism. Having become politicized
during the 1970’s, Churchill saw the 1980s
shift from a socialist mind-set to a capitalist
emphasis as an ominous change. This
difference became clear to her when
comparing British and US concepts of female
equality.
The Sisters – Marlene and Joyce
• Each of the sisters has different answers to the
questions the play asks: while one sister decides to
follow a path that emphasizes her career at the
expense of her family life, the other maintains close
familial ties but continues to lead a life of economic
drudgery.
• Churchill avoids idealizing either path, but her
portrayal presents an opportunity for her audiences
to examine their opinions regarding gender and
class. Discuss this and feed back to the class.
Churchill Experiments with style and
form
• She establishes the principle of overlapping dialogue,
a technique that has become widespread in British
Theatre.
• The play presents scenes out of sequential order,
thereby requiring the audience to actively participate
by connecting the play’s plot lines.
• Discuss other writers who do this – think about Toni
Morrison and consider what her purpose was.
Let’s get to know our characters…and
our playwright
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Isabella Bird (1831-1904)
Lady Nijo (b.1258)
Dull Gret is the subject of the Brueghel painting ‘Dulle Griet’
Pope Joan
Patient Griselda
Playwright = Carol Churchill
Task:
• Use the internet to find basic information about the
characters above.
• In addition, find out some more about our playwright Caryl
Churchill.
So what do we know about our
characters…
• Isabella Bird (1831-1904) lived in Ediburgh, travelled
extensively between the ages of 40 and 70
• Lady Nijo (b.1258) Japanese, was an Emperor’s
courtesan and later a Buddihist nun who travelled on
foot through Japan
• Dull Gret is the subject of the Brueghel painting ‘Dulle
Griet’
• Pope Joan, disguised as a man, is thought to have been
Pope between 854-856
• Patient Griselda is an obedient wife from Chaucer’s ‘The
Canterbury’s Tales’
Act 1
• The first act depicts a trans historical tableau
in which Marlene, an eighties’ career woman,
hosts a dinner party for a table full of
disparate women drawn from history,
literature and art.
Reading Synopsis of Act 1 p.vii
Act 1 p.1-7
• Roles- Marlene, Isabella, Nijo, Waitress, Gret and Joan
• Reading roles up to page 7 – ‘Waitress is bringing the
first course’
• We will watch/listen to the dialogue as we read along. At
points we will stop so you can annotate the text
• Video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDr1FSZWDc&featu
re=player_embedded
Act 1 p.1-7 tasks
• There is no attempt to explain how these women from different cultures,
ages and myths come together.
Task:
1. Use the LinoIt link to plot what your thoughts are on the style of
Churchill’s play? Is it successful? Is it there to confuse? What is her
intention?
http://linoit.com/users/MrWalker2012/canvases/Top%20Girls%20%20Churchill%27s%20style
2. What is the significance of setting the play in a restaurant?
3. What does the opening of the play convey about Marlene and her
social status?
4. What do you think might be gained or lost by preserving the
overlapping structure of the dialogue in performance?
Act 1 p.7-14
• Roles- Marlene, Isabella, Nijo, Waitress, Gret and Joan
• Reading roles up to page 14 – ‘Waitress is bringing the
first course’…to… ‘ They laugh and drink a toast.’
• As we continue to listen to the dialogue, be focused on
annotating to explore the references to the struggles the
women have faced in their patriarchal societies.
• We will discuss this at the end of the section
Act 1 p.7-14 tasks
Task:
1. Make a start on the character chart
2. What do you think is the role of the Waitress
in this play so far?
Act 1 p.9-32
• Task:
• In pairs, you are going to be given responsibility of a
specific section in Act One.
• You will need to annotate the section to focus on the
adversity the women have faced.
• Be prepared to share your notes with the group
Group 1 – Katherine, Anisha, Sam and Jemima– p.9-14
Group 2 – William, Michelle and Eunice – p.14 -19
Group 3 – Sabrina, Ollie, Katrina and Jason – p.19-24
Group 4 – Erika, Nick, Natalie and Claudia – p.24-32
Act 2 and 3
• The next two acts focus on Marlene’s career and family life during the
1980’s, with the last act being set a year before the previous act.
• In the production, actors were cast as both contemporary and historical
characters, a precedent which subsequent productions have followed. This
process opened up possibilities for audience members to construct their
own comparisons and contrasts between different characters’ situations
and perspectives.
• The play’s radically non-linear narrative structure and multiple
interpretations, encouraging viewers to compare and contrast recent and
historical moments.
Act 2 Scene 1
Learning Objective:
• To assess the tension that exists between Joyce and Angie .
• To examine how Angie interacts with Kit.
Summary
• This scene takes place in Joyce’s backyard and begins with Joyce calling for
Angie (aged 16) who is sitting in a shelter with Kit (aged 12).
• Angie ignores Joyce’s calls and she and Kit discuss going to the cinema
• Angie tries to scare Kit by telling her stories about ghosts and poltergeists.
It doesn’t work and the girls quarrel
• Joyce calls again but they ignore her. Angie talks about running away to
London
• Joyce comes out to fetch the girls in. Kit and Joyce talk about Angie and
the future.
Act 2 Scene 1
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The scene will be divided up into sections and in pairs/3s you will read and
act out different parts of the scene. Practise it and discuss character
interaction/dynamics. Try to consider how to show status/control/age of the
girls/. Experiment with levels/voice/proxemics ( how close you are/who is
more upstage/downstage etc)
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Section 1 – two characters – opening of Act 2 to Angie :The dead one top of
page 35
Section 2 – two characters - Angie :The dead one top of page 35 – to bottom
of page 37
Section 3 – three characters -top of page 38 to middle of pg 40 Kit : Good
Section 4 – two characters – middle of pg 40 Kit : Good to page 42 when Joyce
comes out
Section 5 – three characters – page 42 when Joyce comes out to page 44
Joyce: I know you’re a clever pet
Section 6 – Three characters – page 44 Joyce: I know you’re a clever pet to end
of scene.
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Act 2 Scene 1 task p.35-46
• In pairs, read through the scene and discuss character
interaction/dynamics.
• Try to consider how to show status/control/age of the girls/. Think about
staging levels/voice/proxemics ( how close you are/who is more
upstage/downstage etc)
Learning Objectives:
• To consider the dramatic function of each
of the interviews- link to themes
• To consider the last section and the
effect of Angie’s presence in the agency.
• To consider the significance of the title of
play and agency.
Something to consider
• “What use is female emancipation,
Churchill asks, if it transforms the clever
women into predators and does nothing
for the stupid, weak and helpless?
• Does freedom, and feminism, consist of
aggressively adopting the very values
that have oppressed your sex?
Task
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In pairs you will be given a section of scene two
Act/read it through.
Then consider these questions
What does the section reveal about the
characters and how is this achieved?
• How does the section relate to any of the
themes listed below?
• Can you connect it to any other part of the
play?
Task
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Page 46-52 – Nell and Win (Katherine and Katrina)
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Page 52-56 – Marlene and Jeanine- Interview 1 (Claudia, Nathalie and Eunice)
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Page 56-59 Win and Louise – Interview 2 (Sabrina and Jason)
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Page 59-63 arrival of Mrs Kidd – Marlene and Angie (Erika and Sam)
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Page 63-66 Arrival of Mrs Kidd to exit of Marlene on (Anisha and Nick)
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Page 66 -70 Interview 3 – Nell and Shona (William and Jemima)
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What does the section reveal about the characters and how is this achieved?
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How does the section relate to any of the themes listed below?
Themes
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Social responsibility / moral responsibility
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Conflict of class
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Conflict caused by gender- sex roles and sexism
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Choices and consequences
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Success and failure
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Can you connect it to any other part of the play?
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Page 70-73 – Angie , Win, Marlene and Nell (whole class reading)
Churchill’s Achievement
• She achieved the balance of addressing feminist politics
and appealing to popular audiences.
• She placed women’s concerns unapologetically centre
stage in a male dominated theatre environment.
• The play gives female actresses a chance to portray
complex characters.
• Dimple Godiwala (theatre scholar) argues that the allfemale production meant that ‘the writing of ‘Top Girls’
was the single most conscious intervention that British
feminist dramaturgy was to make on the patriarchal
mode of dramatic discourse’. It is still without equal in
the feminist or mainstream canons. Respond to this .
Feminism and Churchill
• In the 1960s and 70s women had been involved in protests
against Vietnam and wanted to take revolutionary goals
further, breaking with the traditionally domestic role of
women. The women made a series of demands that became
foundational to the 1970s Women’s Liberation movement:
equal pay, equal education and opportunity, 24-hour
nurseries, free contraception and abortion on demand.
Second wave feminists intended these goals to be the starting
point for achieving far-ranging equal rights.
• Spend 5 mins considering what inequalities still exist today
between men and women- you may need to do some
research
1970 – Miss World
• The movement became more public when the ‘women’s libbers’
demonstrated at the Miss World Contest of 1970, and soon after staged
their first large march in London. By protesting against the sexist beauty
standards of beauty contests, the British feminists were joining their US
counterparts, who in 1968 had famously protested against a Miss America
Pageant. Later derided as ‘bra burners’, the women took objects that they
felt symbolised women’s oppression – bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes,
‘Playboy’ a women’s magazines – and threw them into a rubbish bin.
Women’s theatre groups performed pieces that could stand on their own
as forms of protest. Plays such as ‘My Mother Says I Never Should’ (1975),
about teenage sexuality, also toured schools, in an effort to offer
progressive education.
• How are women still objectified today? E.g seen as nothing more than a
body and a face.
American Feminism
• Churchill recalls that her initial motivation to write Top Girls
stemmed from confronting different understandings of
feminism:
‘ When I was in the states in ‘79 I talked to women who were
saying how well things were going for women in America now
with far more top executives being women, and I was struck
by the difference between that and the feminism I was used
to in England which is far more closely connected with
socialism.’
In order to understand Top Girls political implications, it is
useful to keep in mind that although it is common to refer to
feminism as a unified movement, there are in fact many kinds.
Different types of Feminism
The main three
• Radical Feminism – support separation from
male-dominated culture, emphasizing women’s
unique and superior characteristics.
• Bourgeois Feminism – seek equality with men
within existing social structures, and minimizes
the differences between the genders.
• Both feminisms focus on the individual, which
differentiates them from socialist (or materialist)
feminism’s emphasis on the group.
Socialist or Materialist Feminism
• Churchill considers herself a socialist feminist, which is also
referred to as materialist feminism, stemming from Karl
Marx’s focus on economic relationships. The Feminist
Theatre Scholar Sue-Ellen Case explains what differentiates
materialist feminism from other feminisms:
‘Rather than assuming that the experiences of women are induced by gender
oppression from men or that liberation can be brought about by virtue of
women’s unique gender strengths, that patriarchy is everywhere and always
the same and that women are ‘sisters’, the materialist position underscores
the role of class and history in creating the oppression of women…Not only
are all women not sisters, but women in the privileged class actually oppress
women in the working class.’ (1982)
Discuss in terms of the play and Thatcher
The connection to Thatcher and
Marlene.
• Case’s description particularly parallels
Churchill’s examination of sisterhood, with
Margaret Thatcher and Marlene in Top Girls
both being rejected as ‘sisters’. Although both
women could be seen as having achieved
success from a bourgeois feminist perspective,
they engage in ‘intra’ gender oppression of
their working-class counter-parts.
British v American Feminism
• US and British branches of feminism developed
differently, resulting in British feminists being more
sympathetic to socialism while Americans assumed a
more bourgeois perspective.
• The US emphasis on bourgeois concerns led to the
movement being criticized for ignoring the concerns of
blue-collar workers and minority women. Identifying as
a socialist in the USA often bore a stigma because of
the Cold War antagonism against any form of ‘Reds’,
women in Britain were more likely to associate
themselves and be aware of class solidarity and
conflict.
British Success
• British efforts towards legislative reform were
generally successful, with the Equal Pay Act
passing in 1970 and instituted in 1975, while the
year that Top Girls premiered, the Equal Rights
Amendment was defeated in the USA.
• However, a mid-1980’s survey of British
employers revealed that many were avoiding or
unaware of the implications of passed equal pay
and opportunities legislation. By 1988, women in
Britain still made up only 6% of directors and 10%
of senior managers.
Churchill’s Views
• Churchill sees socialism and feminism as intimately
conjoined.
• ‘Top Girls’ builds to a debate between ‘us’ and ‘them’
that harks back to Marxist concepts regarding class
structure.’
• From a Marxist perspective, ‘us’ means those who are
economically downtrodden, and ‘them’ to the
members of the upper classes who profit off the labour
of the masses.
• In 1984 the miner’s strike crystallized the class
distinction of ‘us’ and ‘them’, polarising support of the
left against Thatcher’s government.
Thatcherism
• Churchill states that the play was closely linked to
Thatcher’s rise to power:
‘ Thatcher had just become prime minister; there was talk
about whether it was an advance to have a woman prime
minister if it was someone with policies like hers: She may be
a woman but she isn’t a sister, she may be a sister but she
isn’t a comrade. And, in fact, things have got much worse for
women under Thatcher.’
Thatcher, born in 1925, did not want to be seen as a women in
politics, more a politician who happened to be a woman. She
had little sympathy with the post-war generation’s
preoccupation with women’s rights and wrongs.
Parallels between Thatcher and
Marlene
• Thatcher’s father was a grocer and she was an
outsider to political circles. However she
worked her way through the political ranks.
Like Marlene, she found it necessary to leave
class markers behind her, taking elocution
lessons in college. As PM she spoke in an
upper -class accent and adopted the royal ‘we’
on occasion. She gained the ‘iron lady’ and
later her ‘TINA’ nickname for her repeated
assertion ‘There is no alternative.’
Thatcher’s Politics
• She believed in ‘monetarism’, trying to control the money supply and
inflation. Budget cuts functioned to disband the Welfare State. She
pursued privatisation, selling off nationally owned utilities, she viewed
private ownership as more efficient.
• She was very hard on Education and the Arts.
• While women who were able to enter well-paid professions, start
businesses, or buy property could do well in the 1980s, the lower paid
counterparts had increasingly less security. Unemployment more than
doubled between Thatcher’s election and the play’s premiere, reaching
over three million, which represented more than 11 per cent of the
population.
• Her policies affected low-income mothers in immediate ways, with cuts in
maternity provisions and ending of free school meals. Mothers had to
increasingly fit their family responsibilities around multiple part time jobs.
Tax cuts were uneven: the richest 7% received 34% of the total tax cuts,
while the poorest 10% received only 2%.