Top Girls

An Astounding Reflection of Feminism Today

Feminism and politics collide in Olivier Award-winning playwright Caryl Churchill's insightful and richly complex drama Top Girls, now showing at The National's Lyttelton Theatre. Set against the backdrop of Thatcher's Britain, this brand new adaptation dissects yuppie individualism and the facades of bourgeois feminism in search of real progress, highlighting what it really takes for women to success and the roles available to them in modern society. 

The story follows central character Marlene, a tough career woman who hosts a fantasy dinner revolving around guests including nineteenth-century English explorer Isabella Bird, the mythical female Church leader Pope Joan, thirteenth-century Japanese concubine Lady Nijo, Flemish renaissance, folk lore hero Dull Gret and Patient Griselda, the obedient wife from The Clerk's Take in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As the wine flows and these influential women talk about their lives, overarching themes of women, their careers, identities, language and political suppression come to the fore.