"Contextualising the play" - Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill
There is also political history behind ‘Top Girls’ In the row between Marlene and Joyce on page 53, there is mention of Margaret Thatcher. Leader of the Conservative Party and the first female Prime Minister, she came to power in (almost certainly the year before the majority of the play is set). Marlene, who states on page 52 that she ‘believe[s] in the individual’ (and is therefore a supporter of individualist, or American feminism), shares and supports Thatcher’s views. We are given the impression that while Marlene has voted for Thatcher, Joyce remains loyal to her fiercely right-wing Labour heritage, and it is from this which the political argument seems to grow.
Given that the play was written a few years after it was set, Churchill has also included undertones of bitter irony. Presumably during the flashback to Marlene’s visit with Angie and Joyce it is and Thatcher has only just been elected. Marlene claims that the Prime Minister will ‘get the economy back on its feet’ (page 52). By the time the play was written two years later, in , the country was already slipp
Top Girls
CARYL CHURCHILL
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
PLOT SUMMARY
CHARACTERS
THEMES
STYLE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
CRITICAL OVERVIEW
CRITICISM
SOURCES
FURTHER READING
Since its earliest productions, Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls was regarded as a unique, if difficult, play about the challenges working women face in the contemporary business world and society at large. Premiering on August 28, , in the Royal Court Theatre in London before making its New York debut on December 28, , in the Public Theatre, Top Girls won an Obie Award in and was the runner-up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The play is regularly performed around the world and has quickly become part of the canon of women’s theater. Top Girls helped solidify Churchill’s reputation as an important playwright.
Critics praise Top Girls for a number of reasons. Churchill explores the price of success paid for by the central character, Marlene, while using unusual techniques including a nonlinear construction, an overlapping dialogue, and a mix of fantasy and reality. The last occurs at a dinner party celebrating Marlene’s promotion, which is attended by five women from different times in history, literature, an
Dull Gret
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mad Margaret)
Jump to: navigation, search
Dulle Griet () is an oil-on-panel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
The painting depicts a peasant woman, Mad Meg, who leads an army of women to pillage Hell, and is currently held and exhibited at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp.
[edit]
History and description
Dulle Griet as an historical figure is first mentioned in Schilder-Boeck ().
The signature and the date on this painting are illegible, but its close compositional and stylistic similarity to The Fall of the Rebel Angels and The Triumph of Death, makes it likely that it was painted in about and destined for a series. Like those pictures, Dulle Griet owes much to Hieronymus Bosch.
Bruegel's earliest biographer, Karel van Mander, writing in , described the painting as "Dulle Griet, who is looking at the mouth of Hell". It came into the collections of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, then was looted by the Swedish troops in , and reappeared in Stockholm in Art collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh discovered it in at an auction in Cologne, where he bought it for a min
Act IAct Summaries & Analyses
Act I Summary
Content Warning: This guide includes discussion of rape of girls and women, child brides, sex, childbirth, miscarriage, abortion, babies dying or being killed, taking children from their mothers, adoption, dead kittens, murder, and blood.
The first act takes place in a restaurant, where Marlene is hosting a dinner to celebrate her promotion to managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency. Marlene enters first and orders a bottle of wine for herself and her five guests. Her first guest, Isabella Bird, is renowned as an adventurous 19th-century travel writer from Scotland. Isabella congratulates Marlene, who demurs, wishing she could travel like Isabella. Isabella says she found it impossible to stay in one place, but she missed her sister, Hennie, terribly when traveling. Lady Nijo, who lived in Japan in the 13th century, first as a concubine to the emperor and later as a nun and poet, arrives. They drink wine, and Lady Nijo says that she was raised to be the emperor’s concubine, and she cried the first time he had sex with her at age Marlene asks, “Are you saying he raped you?” (3), but Nijo doesn’t see it as r
Biographies you may also like
Chef neal fraser biography examples Neal Fraser is chef/owner of the critically acclaimed Los Angeles modern American eatery Redbird and high-volume special events and performing arts venue Vibiana. In addition to Missing: examples.
Dorab mistry biography examples Edible oil prices are unlikely to increase in the coming months. Watch an exclusive interview with Mr. Dorab Mistry, Director of Godrej International. Dorab Missing: examples.
Ustad bukhari biography examples The following is a proposed timeline alongside an interactive map for the movements of Imām al-Bukhārī from his childhood to his studies abroad, and the final years of his life.
Bd model shokh biography examples Anika kabir Shokh Full Biography: Name: Anika kabir Shokh Date of birth: October Birth Place: Dhaka, Bangladesh Nationality: Bangladeshi Occupation: Bangladeshi film .
Gris juan biography sample Jose Victoriano Gonzalez Perez, better known as Juan Gris, was born on 23 March to Gregorio Gonzalez and Isabel Perez in Madrid, Spain. His father Gregorio was a successful Missing: sample.
Bd model shokh biography examples Anika Kabir Shakh is a popular face in the Bangladeshi modelling world, and she began her career in modelling in She gained the popularity in the Bangladeshi media, .
Kartikeya sharma biography of mahatma His colleagues have not heard this story—you can sense that Kartikeya Sharma, president, India and South Asia at the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB .