Top Girls

Act One

The opening act lasts around 40 minutes in performance, and is possibly the most difficult to understand. The working woman of the present is represented by Marlene, and references to the roles and rights of women across the world and throughout time are shown through female historical figures from different periods and places. They come together over dinner in a restaurant, where Marlene hosts the meal to celebrate her promotion to Managing Director of the Top Girls employment agency. (A suspension of disbelief is needed by the audience to take in the collision between different worlds in this scene; after all, drama does not necessarily have to be naturalistic and true or accurate to life).

As the guests continue to arrive, the conversation starts the way it carries on. The women talk over each other and do not appear to be listening to each other's stories. This raises issues about a lack of solidarity and support amongst women and the repressed truth of each woman's experience. Here the characters are on a mission to tell their life story: each woman has a history to tell, and each does get a short period of uninterrupted speech, where they lay open their eventful lives. Note how some, like Lady Nijo and Griselda, do not question what the men in their lives have subjected them to until other women prompt them to do so. The identity of women, of individuals and the group identity are presented as topics to consider.

The Methuen Student edition of Top Girls gives clear outlines of each character's history.

Act Two

Jeanine comes to Marlene's agency to find work: she is currently a secretary. Marlene and Jeanine's thoughts are in very different places. Jeanine seems lacking in career ambition, her main goal being to save for her wedding, but she would like to travel. Marlene tries to put words into Jeanine's mouth, and reveals that for a woman, success in the workplace is very much at the mercy of being seen as single, and a reliable employee,...