Pope Joan, Marlene and Japanese concubine Lady Nijo dine in a restaurant in Act 1 of Top Girls.

One of the seminal plays of the twentieth century, Top Girls flashes with razor-sharp wit and ingenious theatricality (see reviews and photos too). Our brand new production was an acclaimed hit at Chichester Festival Theatre and in the West End.

We follow two sisters in the early day’s of Thatcher’s England. Hard-nosed, successful businesswoman Marlene; and Joyce who has stayed true to their working class background in rural Suffolk.The play famously opens with Marlene’s extraordinary dinner party, celebrating her promotion with women from myth and history. It brilliantly captures the wit and ambition and loneliness of office life, and leads us to a powerfully moving confrontation when the sisters are reunited.

Bristling and bold, Top Girls is a muscular and moving study of success – the compromises Marlene has made, and what happens to those left behind. Caroline Catz plays Marlene.

Max Stafford-Clark returns to Top Girls having directed its premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in 1982. Caryl Churchill’s plays include Cloud Nine, Serious Money, Far Away, Blue Heart and A Number.