Caryl Churchill S Top Girls

Marlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill's play prompts us to question our notions of women's success and solidarity. Its sharp look at the society and politics of the 1980s is combined with a timeless examination of women's choices and restrictions regarding career and family. This new Student Edition features an introduction by Sophie Bush, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK prepared with the contemporary student in mind. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains: · A chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work · an introductory discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created · a succinct overview of the creation processes followed and subsequent performance history of the piece · an analysis of, and commentary on, some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text · a bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials for further study.

Caryl Churchill is widely considered to be one of the most innovative playwrights to haveemerged in post-war British theatre. Identified as a socialist feminist writer, she is one of the few British women playwrights to have been incorporated into the dramatic canon. Top Girls is one of Churchill's most well known and often studied works, using an all female cast to critique bourgeois feminism during the Thatcher era.

Marlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill's play prompts us to question our notions of women's success and solidarity. Its sharp look at the society and politics of the 1980s is combined with a timeless examination of women's choices and restrictions regarding career and family. This new Student Edition features an introduction by Sophie Bush, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK prepared with the contemporary student in mind. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains: · A chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work · an introductory discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created · a succinct overview of the creation processes followed and subsequent performance history of the piece · an analysis of, and commentary on, some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text · a bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials for further study.

Marlene hosts a dinner party in a London restaurant to celebrate her promotion to managing director of 'Top Girls' employment agency. Her guests are five women from the past: Isabella Bird (1831- 1904) - the adventurous traveller; Lady Nijo (b1258) - the mediaeval courtesan who became a Buddhist nun and travelled on foot through Japan; Dull Gret, who as Dulle Griet in a Bruegel painting, led a crowd of women on a charge through hell; Pope Joan - the transvestite early female pope and last but not least Patient Griselda, an obedient wife out of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As the evening continues we are involved with the stories of all five women and the impending crisis in Marlene's own life. A classic of contemporary theatre, Churchill's play is seen as a landmark for a new generation of playwrights. It was premiered by the Royal Court in 1982. "Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." (John Peter, Sunday Times)

A Study Guide for Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, University of Münster (Englisches Seminar), course: From Page to Stage, language: English, abstract: Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls, particularly its first act, centers on various women from history, fiction, art and mythology who gather in a restaurant to celebrate the promotion of Marlene, the protagonist of the play. Above all, this dinner scene is marked by a lack of understanding between the characters and the unability of each one to change into the others’ perspective. The juxtaposition of the figures finally ends up in a collaps of the conversation and a monologisation of their dialogues. This lack of understanding is based on the different cultural backgrounds of each character. Everyone is part of a different society that is based on different norms and values which eliminates the possibility of a change of the character’s perspective. The question, my term paper is based on, is how far feminist criticism is valid regarding the tension between culture and feminism. In this respect, it is necessary to examine the cultural backgrounds and the respective existence of a feminist’s movement in the cultures of the characters. A valid feministic judgement on the characters can only be given when they are analysed in the light of their culture and afterwards opposed to each other. Therefore, the literature I took into account focuses on historical information of the characters’ cultures, especially women’s cultural history. Furthermore, I analysed literature on Caryl Churchill as well as women dramatists in Britain and the feministic movement. I examined how far each woman of the dinner scene can be valuated as a feminist or as having a feministic attitude and often, this feministic attitude is not a general characteristic but rather a characteristic which is connected to a certain domain of their culture. Hence, I extracted three areas in which this tension between the characters’ cultures and their feministic attitude are surfaced: their relation to men,their family and domestic life and their working life. Yet, instead of examining each character in each category, I concentrated on those characters that stood out in their behaviour and opposed them to each other.

Softcops renders the philosophy of Foucault as a music-hall turn and Victorian freakshow "theatre and history combine to give such intelligent fun" (TLS); Top Girls brings five great and less-than-great women from history together for a dinner party and "has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert" (Sunday Times); Fen scrutinises the lives of the low-paid women potato pickers of the fens (in Eastern England) and "the playwright pins down her poetic subject matter in dialogue of impressive vigour and economy" (Financial Times) while Serious Money is a satirical study of the effects of the Big Bang - "Pure genius...the first play about the city to capture the authentic atmosphere of the place." (Daily Telegraph)

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, University of Münster (Englisches Seminar), course: From Page to Stage, language: English, abstract: Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls, particularly its first act, centers on various women from history, fiction, art and mythology who gather in a restaurant to celebrate the promotion of Marlene, the protagonist of the play. Above all, this dinner scene is marked by a lack of understanding between the characters and the unability of each one to change into the others' perspective. The juxtaposition of the figures finally ends up in a collaps of the conversation and a monologisation of their dialogues. This lack of understanding is based on the different cultural backgrounds of each character. Everyone is part of a different society that is based on different norms and values which eliminates the possibility of a change of the character's perspective. The question, my term paper is based on, is how far feminist criticism is valid regarding the tension between culture and feminism. In this respect, it is necessary to examine the cultural backgrounds and the respective existence of a feminist's movement in the cultures of the characters. A valid feministic judgement on the characters can only be given when they are analysed in the light of their culture and afterwards opposed to each other. Therefore, the literature I took into account focuses on historical information of the characters' cultures, especially women's cultural history. Furthermore, I analysed literature on Caryl Churchill as well as women dramatists in Britain and the feministic movement. I examined how far each woman of the dinner scene can be valuated as a feminist or as having a feministic attitude and often, this feministic attitude is not a general characteristic but rather a characteristic which is connected to a certain domain of their culture. Hence, I extracted thre