l to r) Mimu Tsujimura (Lady Nijo), Monica Cappuccini (Pope Joan), Cat Luedtke (Isabella Bird), Cary Cronholm Rose (Marlene), Carina Lastimosa Salazar (Patient Griselda), Megan Putnam (Waitress), Katie Robbins (Dull Gret). Photo by Claire Rice
TOP GIRLS: Comedy by Caryl Churchill. Directed by Laura Lundy-Paine. Custom Made Theatre Company, Gough Street Playhouse, 1620 Gough St. (at Bush), San Francisco, CA 94109. 415-798-CMTC (2682) or www.custommade.org. March 20 – April 13, 2014.
TOP GIRLS at Custom Made needs directorial guidance. [rating:2] (5/5 stars)
This reviewer has admired the ambition/audacity/avidity of Custom Made that might be summarized as “daring to tackle difficult to perform plays.” Caryl Churchill’s work requires quality/intricate direction that is absent in Top Girls. Fortunately a quieter second act with the mostly competent cast playing multiple roles makes the evening almost worthwhile.
The play is non-linear, partial fantasy with throw back scenes to the Kitchen Sink dramas made famous by her contemporary Arnold Wesker. Churchill is a feminist railing against the subjugation of women in our male dominated world. As written Top Girls first act is a doozy but, as directed , is a noisy shamble and as one critic noted at intermission “I didn’t know we were going to see a drag show!” The costumes are ludicrous (Scarlett Kellum).
Churchill has dipped into history conjuring a historical celebratory dinner party to top all dinner parties. It is being given to honor Marlene (Cary Cronholm Rose) for her promotion, by-passing a male colleague, as the head of a modern day employment agency. There is (in order of appearance) Isabella Bird (Cat Luedtke) a Victorian era inveterate traveler, Lady Nijo (Mimu Tsujimura) a 13th –century Japanese consort who became a Buddhist nun, Pope Joan (Monica Cappuccini) a martyred female pope from the middle ages, Dull Grett (Katie Robbins) a fire and brimstone peasant warrior taken from a Flemish painting and Patient Griselda (Carina Lastimosa Salazar) a dutiful wife from the “Canterbury Tales. The cacophony that increases with their drinking is probably a put-down of male camaraderie. Is Churchill is telling us that if men can do it so can women? In the course of a verbose, boisterous evening with Churchill’s signature overlapping dialog, each guest spills the beans of their horrendous treatment by men reinforcing the fact that female subjugation is as old as time.
The play, originally written in three acts is presented as two acts. That second act salvages the evening. In an interim scene we meet Angie (Katie Robbins) a semi-retarded “tweener”, her mother Joyce (Cat Luedtke) and her younger playmate Kit (Megan Putnam). With the exception of Cary Cronholm Rose who works into the role of Marlene by act two, all the other actors play multiple roles. With two exceptions the transformations of all the actors for the act 2 are so complete you will be asking “Is that really (fill in any actor’s name) who played that historical figure in scene one?”
After the raucous dinner party the play returns to present day 1980 (the Margaret Thatcher years) taking place in the Top Girls Employment Agency office. As Marlene’s employees interview applicants for prospective jobs, there is a series of brilliant individual vignettes that are played with professional touches. Two applicants who add verisimilitude to their roles Megan Putman as Shona, an under aged applicant trying to look and act as a 29 year old and Carina Lastimosa a 47 year old who has played second fiddle to younger co-workers. You will recognize the problem that still exists today. This is not to denigrate the performance of the others since the commitment of the cast is palpable and they deserve better direction.
In the final scene, a classic kitchen sink drama, there is a reverse time shift in which younger Marlene returns to the rural neighborhood of her youth. The confrontation with her sister Joyce (Cat Luedtke) is stunning and family secrets and deep animosity surface. There is an abrupt and perfectly plausible ending as Marlene’s complete character is fleshed out.
Cast: Monica Cappuccini, Cary Cronholm Rose, Cat Luedtke, Megan Putnam, Katie Robbins, Carina Lastimosa Salazar and Mimu Tsujimura
Production Crew: Director – Laura Lundy-Paine; Stage Manager – Jane Troja; Scenic Design – Kevin Dunning; Costume Design – Scarlett Kellum; Lighting Design – Colin Johnson; Scenic Artist – Nicola MacCarthy; Liz Ryder – Sound; Design/Score; Costume Design-Scarlett Kellum; Dialect Coach-Rebecca Castelli; Fight Choreography-Jon Bailey.
Running time 2 hours 25 minutes with an intermission.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
