Wanna Be on Top?

If you could host a dinner party with any five historical or mythical figures, who would it be? If you’re Marlene, the central character in Caryl Churchill’s modern-classic feminist play Top Girls, the choice is simple: a legendary pope, the subject of a Brueghel painting, a 13th-century Japanese concubine, a...

By Ciara LaVelle

April 12, 2012

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If you could host a dinner party with any five historical or mythical figures, who would it be? If you’re Marlene, the central character in Caryl Churchill’s modern-classic feminist play Top Girls, the choice is simple: a legendary pope, the subject of a Brueghel painting, a 13th-century Japanese concubine, a lady travel writer, and Griselda from The Canterbury Tales. Well, obviously. Through discussions of religion, success, and sex, and other topics, the five fictional dinner guests help Marlene sort out her estrangement from her poor family and her problems at her job at the Top Girls employment agency. But, of course, it’s not just about Marlene; it’s about women everywhere struggling for and with success. And it’s an apt subject for the actors at the New World School of the Arts (25 NE Second St., Miami), who’ll perform a run of the play this Thursday through Sunday.
Thu., April 12, 7:30 p.m., 2012

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Ciara LaVelle is New Times' former arts and culture editor. She earned her BS in journalism at Boston University and moved to Florida in 2004. She joined New Times' staff in 2011.

Contact: Ciara LaVelle

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