We begin with Marlene (Solonje Burns) literally 'running up that hill' as she climbs and reclimbs a set of stairs, giddy at the news of her promotion at an employment agency. She celebrates at a restaurant that is beautifully presented with Chinese lanterns overhead, patterned flats, a curved booth, and table. Her friends arrive but they're no ordinary people - they have been conjured from history and fiction in a striking and eclectic mix of women. Here's where the work for the audience begins on multiple fronts - I was familiar with Pope Joan (thanks, Rest Is History podcast) but not overly with Isabella Bird, Lady Nijo, Dull Gret, and Griselda. We glean information as they reveal who they are and interact but this is complicated by extensive use of overlapping dialogue. Costuming helps us place these women in time but it's not until fairly late in the scene when we are specifically told they are centuries apart. Common strands begin to emerge in their conversations - the significance of childbirth, ownership, sacrifice, and navigating the whims of men in their respective times.
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| Photo by Grant Malcolm |
It's a boisterous scene as Marlene becomes increasingly drunk and it's all pitched as a girls night out with Director Virginia Moore Price clearly encouraging the cast to play. I loved the physicality as Burns clambers over the booth, stands on the table, and is all grand gestures as are her guests. Suzannah Churchman is bold as Isabella Bird; Sarah Plummer crawls over the stage in a startling papal birthing moment; while Jenny Howard's Dull Gret bursts into life at the end of the scene. Lady Nijo (Kelly Cleary) is more elegant and beholden to her 9th century male overlords and Emilia Lawonski's Griselda, the latecomer to the party, exhibits a brittleness that will become important later. The set is a mess by the end of it as bowls and other props fly everywhere, most amusingly as the cast stomp along to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights and Howard unintentionally sends a bowl scooting into the wings with the force and accuracy of Cortnee Vine's penalty kick that propelled the Matildas into the World Cup semi-finals.
As I puzzle over what it all means it hits me that Marlene has summoned these women from her imagination which means she's actually celebrating alone. This is a significant realisation for later.
We are then thrust into a scene set in a backyard where a girl, Angie (Lawonski), hides from her mother, Joyce, with a friend. Unfortunately this is under a set of stairs temporarily located at the foot of the stage so my view was obstructed from the 8th row. It takes a dark turn as Angie confronts Churchman's Joyce with no small amount of tension as the threat of violence hangs in the air. What a way to go into intermission!
Sadly, we lost a fair view audience members after the break. All I can say is, yes, the opening half may have seemed obtuse and challenging but you missed out on a superlative second half.
Which opens with a set design that will give me nightmares for weeks! Having worked in offices for the better part of 30 years the use of eight, overhead fluorescent lights was genius. The only thing that could have traumatised me more was if one of them were flickering (there's always one!). This sequence in the Top Girls Employment Agency plays out as a sly satire about the modern workplace circa 1982 from a woman's perspective. Significant aspects include - the employees exhibiting male traits and perpetuating male stereotypes as a way to get ahead; Marlene all cock-a-hoop as she is about to become the top girl; and a visit from her niece, Angie, who clearly idolises her. There's also a cleverly written and delivered inversion where Win (Georgina Teakle) after being bored by the details of a candidate's resume ends up blurting out her life story to another candidate. Another fascinating moment is when the wife of the man Marlene will replace, Mrs Kidd (Howard), basically asks Marlene to step aside because her husband won't be able to cope, being a man and all!
Then we get to the true showstopper - the final scene. It's set one year earlier where Marlene has travelled to visit her sister Joyce at the behest of her niece Angie. Set in Joyce's kitchen as the two sisters sit across from each other under an old style light fixture. Marlene has brought presents which excites Angie no end including a significant call back to an earlier scene. Then the sisters get down to business. They bicker back and forth and it's clear they have made vastly different choices which have led to this moment. A secret, that until this point has been well concealed, is revealed.
That's when one of those rare theatrical treats you crave kicks in. It was like I had been staring at a slightly blurred photograph when suddenly it snaps into focus. Everything made sense after that revelation. This scene is a microcosm of the dreamlike opening. Of course the dialogue was overlapping - sisters having this sort of fraught conversation don't politely wait for each other to finish their lines. Of course Marlene was getting increasingly drunk. And of course the stories those historical and fictional women were telling related directly to this moment in devastating fashion. It is brilliantly written and brilliantly performed by Burns and Churchman. Where Virginia Moore Price had let the cast run riot in the opening here she embraces stillness especially as we close on Burns as the lights dim; Marlene broken down and vulnerable in direct counterpoint to her sly bitchiness and confidence in the preceding scene. It's a sublime ending.
Which opens with a set design that will give me nightmares for weeks! Having worked in offices for the better part of 30 years the use of eight, overhead fluorescent lights was genius. The only thing that could have traumatised me more was if one of them were flickering (there's always one!). This sequence in the Top Girls Employment Agency plays out as a sly satire about the modern workplace circa 1982 from a woman's perspective. Significant aspects include - the employees exhibiting male traits and perpetuating male stereotypes as a way to get ahead; Marlene all cock-a-hoop as she is about to become the top girl; and a visit from her niece, Angie, who clearly idolises her. There's also a cleverly written and delivered inversion where Win (Georgina Teakle) after being bored by the details of a candidate's resume ends up blurting out her life story to another candidate. Another fascinating moment is when the wife of the man Marlene will replace, Mrs Kidd (Howard), basically asks Marlene to step aside because her husband won't be able to cope, being a man and all!
Then we get to the true showstopper - the final scene. It's set one year earlier where Marlene has travelled to visit her sister Joyce at the behest of her niece Angie. Set in Joyce's kitchen as the two sisters sit across from each other under an old style light fixture. Marlene has brought presents which excites Angie no end including a significant call back to an earlier scene. Then the sisters get down to business. They bicker back and forth and it's clear they have made vastly different choices which have led to this moment. A secret, that until this point has been well concealed, is revealed.
That's when one of those rare theatrical treats you crave kicks in. It was like I had been staring at a slightly blurred photograph when suddenly it snaps into focus. Everything made sense after that revelation. This scene is a microcosm of the dreamlike opening. Of course the dialogue was overlapping - sisters having this sort of fraught conversation don't politely wait for each other to finish their lines. Of course Marlene was getting increasingly drunk. And of course the stories those historical and fictional women were telling related directly to this moment in devastating fashion. It is brilliantly written and brilliantly performed by Burns and Churchman. Where Virginia Moore Price had let the cast run riot in the opening here she embraces stillness especially as we close on Burns as the lights dim; Marlene broken down and vulnerable in direct counterpoint to her sly bitchiness and confidence in the preceding scene. It's a sublime ending.
As is the creative team Virginia Moore Price has put together including Merri Ford's costume design, choreographer Amanda Watson, and props & stage art work by Kresna, while Price also did set, lighting and sound design.
You hope going in to get a good story, well told. Sometimes you get a great story, exceptionally well told.
Top Girls is on at the Stirling Theatre until July 20 and is a must see.
What a beautifully written and thoughtful review...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Richard Hyde. You paint pictures with your words. I am in awe of the true master piece you have written for us all in ‘Top Girls’ 🙏🤩💯. Solonje Burns
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