|
|
|
|
|
|
Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
|
|
Top Girls The Swan Theatre Amateur Company The Swan Theatre Studio **** We are back in the 1982 and Thatcher’s Britain and the us and them battles raging at the time – which us or them you were depended to an extent on what you did, or didn’t do, for a living, and sex – not the act itself, we must hasten to add, but which one you were, in those days there were only two choices, man or woman. Thus us could be the working class under the thumb of them, the upper class lot, the bosses, or the other us could be women kept down and in their perceived place by them, the patriarchy that had all the top jobs, held all the power, made of the decisions. Of course women were doubly unfortunate in that they could be in both us camps, as was Joyce, but more of her later, unlike her go-getting sister Marlene who had smashed through the glass ceiling, a term only coined four years earlier, to become managing director of a leading recruitment agency, Top Girls. And that is where Caryl Churchill’s play plants its flag, the effects of Thatcherism, the opportunities for women, what it takes for a woman to succeed and the cost of that success. We open with a strange scene, Marlene has arranged a dinner party to celebrate her success and invited a collection of guests. The only problem is they are all dead and some are merely fictional – but eh, you can invite whoever you like for dinner, right? So, we have explorer Isabella Bird, the first woman to be elected to The Royal Geographical Society, in a prim and proper performance from Rebecca Sharp, and with a touch of Eastern promise Jenny Cheong turns up as Lady Nijo, a 13th century concubine of the Emperor of Japan, a role that differed little from whoring, who was to leave and become a Buddhist nun. Rather than regret, or any sense of shame, she felt honoured she had been chosen. DEVILS OF HELL Caroline Naisbitt was a grumpy Dull Gret, whose claim to fame is she appeared in a Pieter Breughel painting of women attacking the devils of hell, Demi Savva arrives as Patient Griselda whose own claim is as the wife in Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale. She has shown unswerving, complete obedience to her Marquis husband. Oddest of all is Pope Joan from a mitred-up Len Fry spouting theological nonsense. Her holiness, as universally debunked legend has it, was Pope in the ninth century . . . until she blotted her copy book by giving birth and was stoned to death. It is a strange opening, bearing little or no relationship to what is to follow and is strangely disconcerting as the characters insist on talking over each other, so often only starts or ends of conversations are heard. But it does serve to introduce the cast with Mel Glasson as the confident, high-flying Marlene the only constant. There is no linear progression as we move around Marlene’s world stopping off in Angie’s back yard. Angie, Demi Savva again, is Marlene’s niece and is, well, let’s just say intellectual capacity is not one of her strengths. She is 15 with her friend Kitty, a now secular Len Fry, who is four or five years her junior. The relationship is fractious, a friendship with a few barbs, an obvious inequality with Angie in apparent charge but with no idea how to lead. Rebecca Sharp appears as careworn mum Joyce and we discover Angie wants to kill her mum with a brick. That’s teenagers for you. So, it’s off to the employment agency where Win (Jenny Cheong) and Nell (Caroline Naisbitt) give us the office gossip and sex life rumours before Marlene appears and we see a succession of would be clients interviewed. There is the middle-aged manager, 21 years at the firm, who wants a job where she is appreciated, the girl who wants a change with travel, the girl with a fictional CV hoping for a job. All women aiming for better roles and opportunities. Then Angie turns up unannounced to see her aunt, which sees a somewhat uneasy relationship made even more uneasy when Mrs Kidd (Rebecca Sharp again) arrives to announce her husband Howard is distraught, almost suicidal. He was Marlene’s rival for the MD’s job and lost. Mrs Kidd explains he has taken it hard and will find it hard to work for a woman . . . She is told to Piss Off, which delight’s Angie. Finally, we are in the family home, London executive Marlene visiting sister Joyce to the delight of Angie who had arranged the visit by lying in phone calls to Marlene claiming her mum wanted her to visit. Whatever . . . the sisters are together in the home Marlene left to chase a career and finally we have real drama. ABUSIVE FATHER The family saga of one sister chasing a career, one staying and left looking after an aging mum against a drunken abusive father and bringing up a child. If that was not enough for a touch of sisterly tension up comes politics with Marlene planting her THEM flag firmly on the crest of the family hill, extolling the triumph of Thatcher as the first woman PM and the benefits of free market Thatcherism. Joyce, with four cleaning jobs to make ends meet, bringing up a not over bright daughter whose job prospects range from menial to none, and speaking from her position firmly at the bottom of the pile, is a vocal poster girl for US. The arguments and stances are, dare we say it, a bit dated. Thatcher, the nemesis of the unions and the working class in the 1980s, could be seen as nearer middle of the road by the politics of the right these days, she, and Thatcherism, are a hot topic no longer. What we do discover as the sisters bicker is the terrible price Marlene paid to leave home and worship at the altar of ambition. She may have struck a telling blow for the sisterhood but you wonder how many women in the audience would have been prepared to do the same. For all the praise for strong women, the support for equality, opportunity and womanhood, that one question is the one that really needs to be answered, what is the price a woman is prepared to pay? The play has earned an impressive list of accolades since 1982 and is on many a list of best plays of the century, and it does break many a convention, with people talking over each other, unconnected scenes and no linear story line. But, cards on the table time, it is not a favourite play, but if we all liked and disliked the same things the world would be a very boring place, so play apart we were treated to some fine acting from our cast of six, with James Burton as the silent waiter at the opening dinner. While Marlene was the hotshot boss driven by ambition, the rest managed some quite dramatic changes in their roles, Rebecca with her plummy, up market Victorian explorer and picture of drudgery mum, Len as the Pope, an 11-year-old and a teenager conning her way to a job, Caroline as a warrior, a recruiter and a manager looking for recognition, Demi as the demure, subservient Griselda and the somewhat ADHD, Angie while Jenny was every inch a Japanese concubine with sing song accent as well as a shy job seeker and modern, confident young go getter of a recruiter. Five actors sharing 14 characters, and every one different. It takes some doing all on a simple set and with an 80’s soundtrack for company. Directed by Janet Bright the girls will be on top to 26-10-24 and then will move their recruitment operation to The Coach House at Malvern 31 Oct to 2 Nov. Roger Clarke 23-10-24 |
|
|
|
