(born September 3, 1938, London, England) is a British Playwright whose work frequently deals with feminist issues, abuses of power, and sexual politics. At age 10 Churchill emigrated with her family to Canada. She returned to England to attend university at Lady Margaret Hall, a women’s college of the University of Oxford, and received a B.A. in English Literature in 1960. Among many plays, Churchill also wrote short radio dramas and television plays for the BBC. In 1961 she married David Harter (who died in 2021), with whom she had three sons. Her first “major theatrical endeavor,” Owners, was produced in London in 1972. She served as resident dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre from 1974-1975, making her their first female playwright in residence. Around this time, Churchill joined the Joint Stock Theatre Company (founded by Max Stafford-Clark and William Gaskill in 1974) a collective known for their radical new playwriting technique involving collaborative research.
Cloud 9 (1979), a farce about sexual politics, was her first major success. She won an Obie Award (American Off-Broadway Theatre Award) in 1982 for playwriting (Cloud Nine) and again in 1983 for Top Girls, which also won “Best Ensemble Performance.” Churchill continued to push theatrical boundaries to varying degrees of critical success. She won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for both *Fen* (1983) and Serious Money (1987) which was also known as a Royal Court and West End mega-hit. And in 2005 her play A Number, which addresses the subject of human cloning, received an Obie Award. In 2009, Churchill wrote a ten-minute play called Seven Jewish Children that explores a critical history of Israel. It was performed for free at the Royal Court Theatre, with a donation collection for Medical Aid for Palestinians. Writer John Nathan suggested that a play representing views of one community needed to be written by a member of that community. Churchill was also named the recipient of the 2022 European Drama award, an award that was then cancelled following criticism of Churchill's support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Known for always trying new and experimental techniques, Churchill’s prolific theatrical career has yielded close to 40 plays (and counting).
British theatre director Max Stafford-Clark (born March 17, 1941)
(1982 play by Caryl Churchill) follows Marlene, a career-driven woman, as she navigates the world of business. The play examines the roles available to women in society, and what it takes for a woman to succeed. It also explores the influence of Thatcherite politics on feminism as it was written in the background of Margaret Thatcher's election as Britain's first female prime minister. The play has an all-female cast and included stylistic techniques like overlapping dialogues and non-linear storyline. Top Girls has been included on a variety of "greatest plays" lists by critics and publications.
It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London on August 28, 1982. It was directed by Max Stafford-Clark. 🚨NEW! Max Stafford-Clark said in an interview, “[TOP GIRLS] nearly ended in disaster: I had to fire somebody in the penultimate week and recast it." Nine days before we were due to open, he fired Lynn Dearth, who was playing the lead, Marlene. (The Guardian) In December 1982, the Public Theater programmed the play's American debut, with the Royal Court Theatre cast and creative team. In 1991, the BBC and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal commissioned a televised production, reuniting Deborah Findlay (as Isabella/Joyce) and Lesley Manville (as Marlene) under Stafford-Clark's direction, which aired in the UK in 1991 and in the US in 1992. During the 2007–08 season, Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) presented the Broadway premiere of Top Girls. Transferred to Trafalgar Studios in the West End, opening on 16 August 2011. In 2019, a production was staged at the Royal National Theatre.
Top Girls, 1982 - Sue Adler/The Observer
Marlene
Waitress / Kit / Shona
Isabelle Bird / Joyce / Mrs. Kidd
Lady Nijo / Win
Dull Gret / Angie
Pope Joan / Louise
Patient Griselda / Nell / Jeanine
In a dreamlike opening sequence, Marlene meets famous women from history to celebrate her promotion in the 'Top Girls' employment agency. Her guests including Pope Joan, who, disguised as a man, is said to have been pope between 854 and 856; the explorer Isabella Bird; Dull Gret the harrower of Hell; Lady Nijo, the Japanese concubine of an emperor (later a Buddhist nun); and Patient Griselda, the patient wife from The Clerk's Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Together, the women share their stories and similarities while getting increasingly drunk. The next scene jumps to present day (early 1980s) where we see Marlene at work.
Act 2 begins with two girls, Angie and Kit, playing in the backyard of Marlene’s sister Joyce. We learn that Angie hates her mother Joyce and wants to kill her. The next scene brings us back to the ‘Top Girls’ agency where we see more women working and gossiping. Angie arrives at Marlene’s office after running away from home. In the final scene, we learn that Marlene, not Joyce, is Angie's mother. This notion, as well as the political quarrel between the sisters shifts the emphasis of the play and formulates new questions.
Televised Production on YouTube: