“Diary: Top Girls in Tokyo, 1992”

Abstract

[Editor's note: Top Girls is one of Caryl Churchill's most important and most influential plays. The action centers on the character of Marlene, an ambitious businesswoman in the early days of Thatcherite Britain who receives a promotion at the London employment agency for women where she works. The play continued Churchill's innovations – radical 40 years ago – with dramatic form. The all-female cast plays multiple roles. The third act takes place a year before the first two. Lines of dialogue often include a ‘/’ mid-line to indicate when the next line should begin, generating overlap in speaking. And the play combines scenes of family and workplace realism in the second and third acts with a first-act dinner party to celebrate Marlene's promotion attended by notable female figures drawn from history, art, and literature.