Top Girls
Synopsis | Information | Reviews | Shedding Fan Report | Fan reports | Pictures

»   SYNOPSIS

What does it take to be a "top girl"? After having been recently promoted to Managing Director of the Top Girls Employment Agency, Marlene holds a celebration dinner with historical, mythical and literary guests such as Pope Joan, a medieval Japanese courtesan and a 19th century Scottish traveller, during which the women reveal and discuss the personal sacrifices they've had to endure in order to reach their respective personal goals in patriarchal societies. Following this dream-like opening act, Churchill's play takes the audience to 1980s Britain to find Marlene at work, interviewing clients, discussing with coworkers and receiving a surprise visit from her niece Angie. Showing Marlene having to come to terms with the choices she made to pursue a successful career, the play explores the meaning of success for women in a male-dominated world through a variety of female protaganists, spanning across history and culture.




»   INFORMATION

Dates:


Location:


Written by:
Directed by:
On stage as:

Full cast:

 Waitress/Jeanine/Win
Marlene
Isabella Bird/Joyce/Mrs. Kidd
Pope Joan/Louise
Patient Griselda/Kit/Shona
Dull Gret/Angie
Lady Nijo/Nell


Website:
 (first run) June 25 - August 18, 2007
(second run) October 25 - November 22, 2008

Michael Young Theatre, Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto

Caryl Churchill
Alisa Palmer
Marlene



. . . Diana Donnelly
. . . Megan Follows
. . . Kelli Fox
. . . Ann-Marie MacDonald
. . . Cara Pifko
. . . Liisa Repo-Martell
. . . Robyn Stevan


Soulpepper Theatre Company





»   REVIEWS

"It's hard to think of a better choice for Marlene's ball-breaking executive than Follows. For sure, this luminous stage and screen actor plays steely disturbingly well, but few can rival her in those moments when the mask falls off and the tears come out. This is why her Marlene is not a spokeswoman for a generation but a complex human being who transcends time and gender."
– Kamal Al-Solaylee, The Globe and Mail



"The final scene between Marlene (Megan Follows) and her sister Joyce (Kelli Fox) is a masterpiece of acting and pacing."
– Gord McLaughlin, Eye Weekly



"Megan Follows plays Marlene brilliantly, with a hard edge that never becomes a mannerism."
– Robert Cushman, National Post


FULL REVIEWS  « 





»   FAN REPORTS

—  Victoria:   "'Top Girls' was an amazing play to say the least. Megan and the other performers were truly magnificent. When she came out on stage, it hit me that after almost 24 years, I was FINALLY seeing her in person. It truly felt like an accomplishment or me."



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»   PICTURES