Caryl Churchill
Author of Top Girls
About the Author
Carl Churchill, also spelled as Caryl Churchill, was born in London, England, on September 3, 1938. Growing up, Churchill lived in both England and Canada and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, in 1960. While at Oxford, Churchill became show more interested in theatre and went on to write three plays while she was there. After graduation, Churchill spent the next ten years writing plays, including "Lovesick" and "Schreber's Nervous Illness," which were broadcast on the BBC. In 1974, Churchill began working for the Royal Court Theatre as a resident playwright and two years later she joined the Joint Stock Theatre Group, an organization that uses collective collaboration between actors, writers, and directors when creating theatrical works. Churchill has also written dozens of books over the years, among them Blue Heart, Cloud Nine, and Hotel: In a Room Anything Can Happen. Looked upon as a voice of post-modernism, Churchill is well known for her use of dramatic structure. (Bowker Author Biography) In the early 1980s, Churchill suddenly became one of the contemporary British dramatists best represented on New York stages, as three of her plays were produced in succession. Cloud Nine (1978), directed by Tommy Tune, held the stage for two years and won an Obie (as did Top Girls, 1982). In England Churchill's career has been less abrupt, a long migration among the characteristic outlets of the new drama. From 1961 to 1972, she wrote radio plays. Owners (1972) was her first stage work commissioned by the Royal Court, where she became resident dramatist in 1974, and which staged Objections to Sex and Violence in 1975. The following year Churchill began working with two of the important fringe theater companies. One company was Joint Stock for which she wrote Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, (1976), Cloud Nine, and Fen (1982). The other was a feminist group named Monstrous Regiment for which she wrote Vinegar Tom (1976), and contributions to the revue Floorshow. The Lucille Lortel Theatre (New York) production of Cloud Nine in 1981 ushered in the most recent, transatlantic phase of Churchill's career. New York's Public Theater, as well as London's Royal Court, staged versions of Top Girls in 1982. Churchill writes many different kinds of plays. Examples are Ortonesque, about the grotesques of Owners, historical as in versions of the seventeenth century in Light Shining, about the English Civil War, and Vinegar Tom, about witchcraft. She also writes expressionist (the cross-sexual casting and doubling in Cloud Nine), and formally experimental (the permutations of situation in her dramatic Mobius strip, Traps). She is increasingly feminist in outlook. But, if her demonstrations of sexual liberation are sometimes pat (as in the second half of Cloud Nine), her theatrical adventurousness is always invigorating. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Caryl Churchill
Churchill Plays 1: Owners + Traps + Vinegar Tom + Light shining in Buckinghamshire + Cloud nine (1985) 273 copies, 4 reviews
Modern Drama: Plays of the '80s and '90s: Top Girls; Hysteria; Blasted; Shopping & F***ing; The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Play Anthologies) (2001) 54 copies, 1 review
Contemporary Plays by Women: Outstanding Winners and Runners-Up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 1978-1990 (1991) — Author — 49 copies
Caryl Churchill Plays: Five (Seven Jewish Children, Love and Information, Ding Dong the Wicked, Here We Go, Escaped Alone, Pigs and Dogs) (2019) 10 copies, 1 review
Lovesick 1 copy
Abortive 1 copy
Schreber's Nervous Illness 1 copy
Io! (a Mouthful of Birds) 1 copy
The Judge's Wife 1 copy
The ants 1 copy
Seagulls 1 copy
Three More Sleepless Nights 1 copy
Hot Fudge 1 copy
Far Away 1 copy
Associated Works
The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues: More Than 150 Monologues from More Than 70 Playwrights (1987) — Contributor — 193 copies
The Actor's Book of Scenes from New Plays: 70 Scenes for Two Actors, from Today's Hottest Playwrights (1988) — Contributor — 87 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Churchill, Caryl
- Birthdate
- 1938-09-03
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Oxford (Lady Margaret Hall)
- Occupations
- playwright
- Agent
- Mel Kenyon (Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd)
- Relationships
- Harter, David (spouse)
- Nationality
- England (birth)
UK - Birthplace
- London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England (birth)
Montreal, Canada - Map Location
- UK
Members
Reviews
Another Ardgour readthrough. I want to say 'I liked this a lot', but I'm not sure 'like' is a word I can associate with this weird ikky tale of colonialism, incest, adultery, paedophilia and orgies. It ought to be trying too hard - everything is shock factor turned up to 11. But the language is so slick, and makes you flinch and laugh and cry all at the same time, with wry dark humour and deep insight. It's a play of two halves, which while they have parallels and echos are mostly disjoint. show more The first half is colonial Africa, a man trying to keep the white beacon of God, Queen, Family and Respectability burning through a mess of lust, unrequited love, fights with the natives, and Christmas. The second half is the 1970s, and a sprawling mess of people bringing up children, having sex, and trying to work out who they are and what they like in the world. show less
Caryl Churchill explores what it means to be a woman and a feminist in her play Top Girls. It begins with a unique premise: when career-driven businesswoman Marlene receives a promotion at work, she invites several historical and literary figures to a dinner party to celebrate her success. As the night progresses, we learn of each woman’s backstory and the hardships they faced in life, including rape, abuse, and abandonment. The remaining acts shift the narrative to Marlene’s home life show more and her strained relationship with her family. Top Girls is a strong critique of pseudo-feminists who raise themselves up on the backs of others and define their feminism purely by their successes in business. Although the play was originally written and performed in the early 1980s, its themes feel incredibly relevant today in light of the current political/social climate and the #metoo movement. show less
As with many anthologies, a bit of a mixed bag. The works here don't have a common theme, other than perhaps the rejection of standard linear story-telling and the Aristotelian three-part structure. The women are strong, but the author does have an unfortunate tendency to resort to the stereotypical strong, bitchy woman that mows others over in her path. There is definitely a streak of feminism, but at times a sense that the author is lashing out against feminism in favor of a version of show more femininity. Still, the plays are interesting and quirky, and definitely well worth a look. show less
Oh, this play made me cry. It's a brutal yet humourous portrayal of Marlene (a top executive) and her sister (a single mother) and manages to illustrate the questions of duty, choice, motherhood and what women should be brilliantly while leaving us no easy answers or trite moral messages at the end of the play.
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Statistics
- Works
- 65
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 3,343
- Popularity
- #7,640
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 39
- ISBNs
- 177
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 7
