TOP GIRLS. To 15 November.
Manchester
TOP GIRLS
by Caryl Churchill
Library Theatre To 15 November 2003
Mon-Thu 7.30pm Fri-Sat 8pm Mat 12 November 2pm & 15 November 3pm
Audio-described 13 November, 15 November 3pm (Touch Tour 1 hour pre-show)
Pre-show talk 15 November 2pm
Play Day 12 November 10.30am (Workshop)+2pm (Performance)
Runs 2hr 30min Two intervals
TICKETS: 0161 236 7110
www.librarytheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 November
A production worthy of this fine play, with some striking individual performances.Caryl Churchill's 1982 play still seems boldly experimental. It surprisingly reinvigorates the 3-act form: a middle act of short scenes is framed by two single-scene acts. The first is the boldest.
As Thatcherism was soaking through England (Margaret Thatcher had been Prime Minister since 1979) expensive restaurant celebrations were the territory of the newly affluent young. Marlene's promotion to run an employment agency is celebrated (before we know anything about her job) by a girls' night out. Chris Honer's production captures the greed-is-good' hedonism of outrageous behaviour no longer confined to footballers and pop stars. Everyone could be a celebrity while their credit lasted; loudness and vomit cap the meal.
New classless freedom didn't come universal. Sophie James' tightly-clad, neat and silent Waitress is treated dismissively; her self-possession suggests she knows her place yet will be ready to join the party whenever the money comes rolling her way.
Conversation overlaps, as it does when there's wine and everybody's ready to talk about themselves. Churchill structures the overlaps; playwrights and directors have repeatedly copied her since. But the scene's notable for Marlene's guest-list famous women from history gather round her table. Magical realist territory's used to emphasise the freedom Thatcherite Marlene's found: even the sky's not entirely the limit.
And the weak go to the wall. Marlene's a role model for her pushy, cynical staff (an especially fine contrast between subdued act one Griselda and opinionated Win by Isabel Pollen). But any client not so stylish and assertive gets the brush-off as much as a yokel in a Restoration Comedy. The train of despised clients - the dowdy, the devoted and the deluded - is capped when Marlene sees off the beleaguered wife of the executive she's leapfrogged.
These scenes end up sandwiched between some from rural poverty which reveal the humanity Marlene's surrendered. Kate Williamson sings the glories of the eighties to come, but thanks to Leah Muller's vividly nervy Angie, uneasy in East Anglia, the optimism's undercut. As Williamson's smile seems increasingly facile, Muller's night fear offers a final explosion of anxiety, beautifully caught in this fine revival.
Marlene: Kate Williamson
Waitress/Kit/Shona: Lindsey Fawcett
Isabella Bird/Joyce/Louise: Sophie James
Lady Nijo/Angie: Leah Muller
Dull Gret/Nell: Diane Beck
Pope Joan/Jeanine/Mrs Kidd: Morag Siller
Patient Griselda/Win: Isabel Pollen
Director: Chris Honer
Designer: Sarah Williamson
Lighting: Lucy Carter
Sound: Paul Gregory
Voice coach: Tim Charrington
2003-11-10 01:23:15