![]() ![]() ![]() She mentions the aunt in London whom she worships, and by the next scene - in what is Act 2 in this production - Angie is making an unannounced appearance at Marlene's office.Īt the staffing agency, the parallel tensions of the historic women are contrasted with those of women in the workplace in 1980s London. It becomes apparent that the two share some kind of intimate bond, and meanwhile Angie expresses great hatred for her mother (Nafeesa Monroe, who also appears at the waitress in the dinner scene), and even threatens to kill her. We then cycle (possibly) backwards in time to meet Marlene's 16-year-old niece, Angie, an apparently developmentally stunted girl with erratic moods who is hiding out in the backyard with her much younger friend Kit. ![]() Without explaining where they are or how they've transcended time and space to gather here, the women get increasingly drunk on wine and brandy and discuss their varied, often painful life stories - many of them impacted by the way they were treated and tortured by men. There's 19th Century explorer Isabella Bird (Julia McNeal), Japanese imperial courtesan turned Buddhist nun Lady Nijo (Monica Lin), Flemish warrior Dull Gret (Summer Brown), the fictive Pope Joan (Rosie Hallett), and European folklore character Patient Griselda (Monique Hafen Adams). And given the length of the scene, the disconnections between the characters, and the manner in which the six women on stage frequently talk over each other as they compete to tell their stories, it feels like experimental theater at its most challenging.Ĭhurchill pulls in a series of five characters both real and fictional who seem to represent different historic modes of independent womanhood, and the conceit is that they've all been invited to dinner with Marlene (Michelle Beck), a modern British career woman who's recently been promoted at the Top Girls staffing agency. The first scene in what is ultimately a play told in four acts (or scenes) is perhaps the most bewildering piece of what becomes a puzzle of plot points and references. It's a complicated, non-linear play that has been further rearranged in a new version by Churchill, and it asks a litany of questions about modern womanhood that remain relevant today. Opening the new season at American Conservatory Theater on Wednesday night was a new production of Caryl Churchill's 1982 play Top Girls, directed by Tamilla Woodard. ![]()
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