Throughout history the theme of ‘female struggles’ has been explored in many forms but most effectively through the art of literature. Caryl Churchill’s ‘Top Girls’ and April de Angelis’ ‘Playhouse creatures’ both explore one of their core themes of ‘female struggle’ throughout their plays; both plays discuss sacrifices, marriage, unemployment etc. and showcase what it is like being a woman and how difficult it is in a patriarchal society. The writers both express this theme throughout their work using different techniques. Top Girls was set in 1980s Britain which was a period of female empowerment as well as increase in conservative views whereas Playhouse creatures was written in 1993 yet set in 1669 a time where gender division was still
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The writer displays the females in Top Girls as very career driven, in Act 1 of the BBC adaptation of the play Marlene is shown interviewing Janine for a job higher in pay, this already shows an advance in the times as women were working real jobs rather than household chores which shows that the attitude towards women in the 1980s had become more liberal. Another character in ‘Top Girls’, Win says to Marlene in her office "We’d rather it was you than Howard. We’re glad for you, aren’t we Nell." Churchill purposely chose to show the women praising Marlene for her promotion as she wanted to highlight how unconventional it was for a woman to gain a promotion over a man or to have such high status in the first place. This could be interpreted by the audiences as the women in the office resenting Marlene for getting the promotion or even being jealous of her success. It’s unusual for a woman to be as successful as Marlene at the time of the 1980s however this again was around the time Thatcherism was strong and Marlene shows passion and interest in politics herself, she says “i believe in the individual. Look at me” this mirrors Thatcher’s ideology and ties in with what was happening politically at the …show more content…
to showcase every facet of female struggles throughout history. They both double up characters to play more than one role so different struggles are emphasised. Churchill’s BBC adaptation has allowed the audience to physically view (rather than read) how society shaped what was thought of women during the 1970s and through time so that we can acknowledge the evolution of society and tradition. We saw the success of the women at Marlene’s dinner table which was a way to show the rising of female power but we also saw Marlene having to give up motherhood to carry on pursuing her career. Similarly, de Angelis shows us the struggle of females in the 1670s through Mrs Farley who also had to sacrifice her child for the sake of her job. De Angelis evokes sympathy for the characters who have to resort to working in the ‘playhouse’ to earn a living despite it being perceived as a brothel and you would be ‘not respected’ if you worked there. However both plays showcase the development of the role of women and how the historical time periods were both a time of empowerment and change for them as they established the right to act on stage and found hope through the rise of
The writer displays the females in Top Girls as very career driven, in Act 1 of the BBC adaptation of the play Marlene is shown interviewing Janine for a job higher in pay, this already shows an advance in the times as women were working real jobs rather than household chores which shows that the attitude towards women in the 1980s had become more liberal. Another character in ‘Top Girls’, Win says to Marlene in her office "We’d rather it was you than Howard. We’re glad for you, aren’t we Nell." Churchill purposely chose to show the women praising Marlene for her promotion as she wanted to highlight how unconventional it was for a woman to gain a promotion over a man or to have such high status in the first place. This could be interpreted by the audiences as the women in the office resenting Marlene for getting the promotion or even being jealous of her success. It’s unusual for a woman to be as successful as Marlene at the time of the 1980s however this again was around the time Thatcherism was strong and Marlene shows passion and interest in politics herself, she says “i believe in the individual. Look at me” this mirrors Thatcher’s ideology and ties in with what was happening politically at the …show more content…
to showcase every facet of female struggles throughout history. They both double up characters to play more than one role so different struggles are emphasised. Churchill’s BBC adaptation has allowed the audience to physically view (rather than read) how society shaped what was thought of women during the 1970s and through time so that we can acknowledge the evolution of society and tradition. We saw the success of the women at Marlene’s dinner table which was a way to show the rising of female power but we also saw Marlene having to give up motherhood to carry on pursuing her career. Similarly, de Angelis shows us the struggle of females in the 1670s through Mrs Farley who also had to sacrifice her child for the sake of her job. De Angelis evokes sympathy for the characters who have to resort to working in the ‘playhouse’ to earn a living despite it being perceived as a brothel and you would be ‘not respected’ if you worked there. However both plays showcase the development of the role of women and how the historical time periods were both a time of empowerment and change for them as they established the right to act on stage and found hope through the rise of