[Published in the Age, September 3 2012]
FOUR AND A HALF STARS
With debates over gender disparity in Australian theatre so vehement, it seems no coincidence that two major companies have chosen to stage Caryl Churchill’s 1982 Top Girls this year: a ground-breaking exploration of career women in Thatcher’s Britain and the sacrifices they make to succeed.
Director Jenny Kemp brings together a remarkable all-female cast: Helpmann-winning Anita Hegh again proves herself a rising star as aspirational protagonist Marlene; younger cast members Nikki Shiels and Eryn Jean Norvill are also luminous.
The dreamlike dinner party that opens the play, where women from various historical epochs celebrate Marlene’s promotion, gestures toward Churchill’s central concerns. Overlapping dialogue suggests these women’s experiences are intertwined — stories of rape, arranged marriages, love, birth and death, all in some way determined by men — yet Kemp keeps the tone comically surreal.
Staged on a red carpet that leads toward disembodied French doors at the rear of the stage, guests are served white plaster food from a waitress in a bunny mask. Ferguson’s set and costume design are a subtle triumph throughout, never distracting from the mesmerising performances.
The second act shifts to Marlene’s day-t0-day at the Top Girls employment agency, juxtaposed with the past she’s trying to leave behind: scenes set in her sister Joyce’s kitchen show this individualistic brand of feminism is divided along class lines.
This near-flawless production proves Churchill’s concerns remain dispiritingly pertinent thirty years on. As the concluding line goes, the prospect is “frightening, frightening”.
Currently showing at MTC Sumner Theatre, until September 29.
Posted on September 3, 2012
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