Girls Still on Top
ELIZABETH ALLEN
Top Girls is an extraordinary play by an extraordinary playwright. Caryl Churchill has been called Britain’s “most brilliant living playwright” and this play “hilarious, ground-breaking, gritty”. Characteristic of her work is its mix of social satire and surrealism.
I was lucky enough to see Top Girls when, in 1982, it opened at London’s Royal Court with Lesley Manville, Lindsay Duncan and Deborah Findlay, each of them certainly having lived up to that billing. Although my memories, not surprisingly, are imperfect, I do recall the ‘wow’ impact of language and structure – how, just when you began to relax and think, “Yes, I’ve got it, I can see where this is going”, you suddenly needed to re-think, re-evaluate.
The play explores the complexities of women’s experience. Has it dated? In 1982 Margaret Thatcher was ‘top girl’, having become Prime Minister three years before – and her face features on the flyer for this production. Feminism had its fissures. Churchill has said the play was inspired by conversations with American feminists celebrating individualistic success in the acquisition of power and wealth, while in Britain the dominant model was, rather, collective group gain.
In the strange time-warp luncheon with which the play opens, Marlene, with her padded shoulders and top job, hosts women from history, literature and legend who (sometimes talking over each other) tell of joys and agonies across the centuries. Later acts offer very different perspectives on women’s experiences and choices. But in 2026 this interrogation of experience and socially ascribed values remains as pertinent as ever. On television Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments plays. Beside me on the desk are reviews of a new book entitled Bad Mothers. Tradwives’ podcasts abound.
For this production, director Chris New has opted for two casts and he emphasises the centrality of team work between those playing the same role. He insists, too, that this is not a didactic text about what constitutes ‘good’ feminism. Rather, it poses questions. “If you think you know what Caryl Churchill’s feminist politics are in this play, you’re probably wrong,” he says.
Top Girls plays at The Stables 22 April to 1 May
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