Several historic characters come for dinner in `Top Girls’

Imagine attending a banquet with Isabella Bird, who was a 19th century world traveler. Or Lady Nijo, 13th century courtesan and Buddhist nun who traveled on foot through Japan. Or Dull Gret, the subject of a Brueghel painting in which an armored woman leads a crowd of charging women to war. Or Pope Joan, who disguised herself as a man in order to keep her position. Or Patient Griselda, the obedient wife whose story is told by Chaucer’s “The Clerk’s Tale.”

These are the characters who come to dinner in the opening scene of Caryl Churchill’s play “Top Girls” currently being performed by the Theater of the Enchanted Forest Second Stage Company for adults. When this group gets together to break bread, the stories flow as plentifully as the wine, and history is retold in a new and stunning voice.

The feast, however, is set in present day England in honor of Marlene, an upwardly mobile businesswoman who has recently been promoted to the position of manager at Top Girls Employment Agency. The play is about Marlene and the choices she must make if she wants to participate fully and successfully in the fiercely competitive, and largely male, business world. Marlene does climb the corporate ladder, but she also becomes emotionally alienated and a bit too dependent on alcohol to dull the pain of her routine. The opening scene links Marlene to a long history of emotional and intellectual oppression of women who have fought to be a part of the freedoms and opportunities often reserved for and monopolized by men.

In the background of the play is Marlene’s sister, Joyce who is confined to domestic labor and child rearing, and as a result, lives in relative poverty. The tension between the sisters is heightened by the fact that Marlene’s child, Angie, has been raised by Joyce whose options in life have been limited by her commitment to marriage, a child, and “unskilled” labor.

Churchill is one of the leading playwrights or our time and her plays are poignant, humorous, challenging and bold. “Tops Girls” is no exception. However, it offers a fairly bleak outlook on the possibilities available to women because of the restrictions of class and gender. Neither the housewife/mother nor the successful businesswoman can feel confident about her lifestyle because the two roles end up being mutually exclusive.

The TEF production presents a very capable cast of women, each of whom has shining moments in the play. Although it is an ensemble cast, the group is held together by Marlene, played carefully by Cate Davis who shows us the anger, cunning and motivation of her character.

Christine Karras as Angie is energetic and convincing. Katharine Tyson as Isabella Bird/Mrs. Kidd gives a performance that is solid and controlled. Karen Colburn as Lady Nijo is reserved and sophisticated, as she should be, and Ann Fellows as Pope Joan/Louise is hilarious. As Dull Gret, Mary Olson is resourceful and entertaining, and as Angie’s friend Kit, Patty Olson is competent.

As Jeanine/Nell, Laurie Beal offers a fine performance but, unfortunately, director Christopher Rock has her speaking several of her lines upstage so they are completely lost to the audience.

Several of Rock’s directorial decisions are quite distracting. The play is obviously set in England and is about English women who speak with English slang, drink English tea and eat English biscuits. None of this makes any sense though if everyone speaks with American accents. “I want to be an American,” screams Angie at one point, and it is difficult to suspend our disbelief when she, and everyone on stage, is obviously already American.

Several of the scenes require the actors to eat on stage and this is at times done with less than careful direction. For instance, Bronwyn Kortge’s monologue is awkward and muffled because she is trying to eat yogurt while talking. There are plenty of theater tricks of the trade that could have corrected this scene, but instead, an important speech is buried in a coating of yogurt.

The set changes between scenes are also awkward and always too slow. Rock, whose set designs are often efficient and imaginative, requires too much patience from the audience by forcing us to sit through set changes that break the rhythm of the play. Typically, Churchill demands enough of us with textual shifts in time and place, and Rock only complicates the matter by not simplifying his set.

Luckily, though, the actors are able to give continuity and credence to the important issues that Churchill raises. The play is hardly uplifting, but it voices and validates the problems that many women must face when trying to make decisions about career and family.

“Tops Girls” will be performed at 8 p.m. Aug. 3-5 at the University of Maine Pavilion Theater. Tickets may be purchased at the door.