Themes
Name three central themes in Top Girls
Examples:
Women & work
Mobility & status
Womanhood and daughterhood
How are interruptions illustrated in the typography of the play?
With the use of indents, Churchill portrays overlapping dialogue in Top Girls?
"I never obeyed anyone. They all obeyed me"
Which character says this line?
Marlene
JOYCE: "She's clever in her own way".
Who is Joyce referring to?
Angie
"I don't know how you could leave your own child."
Which character says this line and to whom?
Joyce to Marlene
How is the idea that women have always had to sacrifice to survive in a patriarchal world portrayed in the play?
Through Marlene's sacrifice of her familial relations (Angie + Joyce)
+ other characters in Act 1
How is voice used as a dramatic device through the character of Gret?
Her monosyllabic lines
"Do you know why I went to Rome? Italian men didn't have beards."
Which character says this line?
Pope Joan
"Our Marlene's got far more balls than Howard and that's that."
Which character says this line?
Nell
"No, let me cry. I like it."
Which character says this line?
Marlene
What do the male characters mentionned in the play represent? (mention themes)
Male characters are never shown on stage but are constantly referenced as forces of exploitation, absence, and institutional power, representing the theme of patriarchy as a structural force.
It can also be seen as a factor that shapes women's fate. (even if absent)
Explain the specific choice of the doubling of Angie and Gret in the representation of the play (besides the practical aspect).
- The doubling links Gret and Angie as the same type of woman (raw, rageful).
- It suggests nothing has changed across centuries as society still marginalizes the same women.
"I began to love him with my whole heart but it was too late. He was a skeleton with transparent white hands"
Which character says this line?
Isabella Bird
"I have a Porsche. I go up the M1 a lot."
Which character says this line?
Shona
"Did she recognise you?"
Which character says this line and who is it about?
Joyce to Marlene about their mother.