She has this boyfriend with stature in the local community, and because she is running with them she is in a gang before she even knows it, and, in gang rivalries whether she likes it or not. There are no warning signs, no posters or leaflets about joining gangs, they literally have you trapped before you even know it. After they have been married for several years, Griselda gives birth to a baby girl. When the baby turns six weeks old the Marquis tells Griselda that she has to give it up, so she does. Four years later Griselda gives birth to a son. She has to also give this child up after two years because it angers the other members of the court. Twelve years after she gave up her last child, the Marquis tells her to go home, which she does. [10] The Marquis then comes to Griselda's father's house and instructs her to start preparing his palace for his wedding. Upon her arrival, she sees a young girl and boy and it is revealed that these are her children. All of this suffering was a trial to test her obedience to the Marquis. [11] This is the true-life account of Danielle Marin, "a smart grammar school student turned county line drug dealer." Hard-hitting, addictive, and thought-pro Dull Gret is the subject of Dulle Griet, a Flemish renaissance painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The painting depicts Gret—an older woman clad in long skirts and battle armor—leading a group of women… Its raw and honest. It isn't a glamorous or a pretty story but I really liked 'D' and the honesty with which she told her story. I liked that she took responsibility for her own actions and didn't try to play the pity card and even though in a lot of ways she was a victim she didn't play the victim either.

National Theatre (27 September 2018). " Top Girls at The National Theatre" . Retrieved 1 December 2021. This is a harrowing story of how failure by the school, the police and social services drives people further into the abusive dangerous lives they have become involved with. It shows how protection and safety seem more guaranteed with a gang than with the organisations that are supposed to help you. In the end Danielle is helped to leave but even then it only works because she has the intelligence to see that the agencies task to help her are only going to do a half arsed job and she must rely on the skills she has to get herself all the way there. Isabella Bird is a real-life, nineteenth-century English explorer, writer, and naturalist. Isabella is the only character at the dinner party who never bore children, and the only character whose work was honored in her lifetime… Betrayed by the police after a brutal gang rape, she finds protection under the wing of organised criminals and falls in love with the local ‘top boy’. However, her allegiances bring terror to her doorstep when gun-toting rivals target her flat – and the authorities answer by taking away her baby.

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In 1998 the critic David Benedict named Top Girls as his favourite "play of the [20th] century" writing that "Caryl Churchill's stunningly moving study of the enticements of power and the contradictions we are forced to face was groundbreaking in its reworking of the basic dramatic rules governing time, manner and place. It was also utterly alive to the world in which she was writing and remains so today." [1]

Heartbroken, Danielle spirals deeper into gang life and becomes a key player in a sprawling county lines operation, running drugs to satellite towns all over the UK from the gang’s London HQ. A turning point comes when Danielle is arrested and – with the help of a probation officer – she begins to question whether she really is ‘top girl’ after all. But after five years deep in the high-earning street hustle, can she really leave it all behind? Groomed by a gang member from the young age of twelve, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how a young girl could be manipulated and get caught up in the gang life. I really liked the fact that Danielle doesn’t paint herself as a victim. She takes ownership of the path she chose. Danielle is very honest and admits that money was her motivation for drug selling, but she highlights the actual dangers associated with selling drugs, and gives a brutal insight into how and why kids get involved in drugs and drug dealing. Top Girls essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. Top Girls was nominated for 'Best Play' at the 1982 Standard Drama Awards, although it was noted that the play "drew compliments rather than committed votes" from the judging panel. [13]Nobody notices me, I don’t expect it, I don’t attract attention by making mistakes, everybody takes if for granted that my work is perfect." - Louise, Act 2, Scene 3, p. 52 There is also commentary on Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, who celebrated personal achievement and believed in free-market capitalism ( Thatcherism). Marlene, the tough career woman, is portrayed as soulless, exploiting other women and suppressing her own caring side in the cause of success. The play argues against the style of feminism that simply turns women into new patriarchs and argues for a feminism in which caring for the weak and downtrodden is more prominent. The play questions whether it is possible for women in society to combine a successful career with a thriving family life. In 2014, Top Girls was ranked by The Daily Telegraph as one of the 15 greatest plays ever written. [3]

Climax: Angie, who suspects that her Aunt Marlene, not her mother Joyce, is her true birth mother, travels to London to visit Marlene at the Top Girls employment agency. She watches as Marlene confronts the angry wife of a man at the agency who believes her husband should have received Marlene’s most recent promotion.

Dorney, Kate; Gray, Frances (14 February 2013). "1980-1989". Played in Britain: Modern Theatre in 100 Plays. Great Britain: Methuen Drama. pp.116–117. ISBN 9781408164808. The play opens in a restaurant, where Marlene is waiting for some friends to arrive. She is throwing a dinner party to celebrate her promotion at the employment agency where she works. As the women arrive and start the meal, they begin to talk about their lives and what they did. Each of her guests is a historical, fictional or mythical woman who faced adversity and suffered bitterly to attain her goals. Lady Nijo recalls how she came to meet the ex-Emperor of Japan, and her encounter with him. While the rest of the women understand the encounter as rape, she explains that she saw it as her destiny: the purpose for which she was brought up. Within the context of Pope Joan's narrative, the women discuss religion. At this point the waitress, who punctuates the scene with interruptions, has already brought the starter and is preparing to serve the main courses. All the women except Marlene discuss their dead lovers. They also recall the children that they bore and subsequently lost. Nijo's baby was of royal blood, so he couldn't be seen with her. Pope Joan was stoned to death when it was discovered that she had given birth and was therefore female and committing heresy. Griselda was told that her two children had been killed, in a cruel test of her loyalty to her husband. After dessert, the women sit drinking brandy, unconsciously imitating their male counterparts. Heartbroken, Danielle spirals deeper into gang life and becomes a key player in a sprawling county lines operation, running drugs to satellite towns all over the UK from the gang’s London HQ. The Harrods shopping sprees, designer handbags and hedonistic lifestyle are the envy of her friends, but the good times and cash mask the grim realities of her life. years and up should be offered this book to read as it can show how easily they can be pulled into this world by a few kind words and treats.

Top Girl is relatable for all readers, of all ages, with its modern and relevant tone it will appeal to YA readers, as well as those who love true crime reads. I can not praise this enough, and the awareness that Danielle brings, is not only extremely courageous, it is also very admirable. Act 2, Scene 3 is set in the Top Girls Employment Agency on a Monday morning. Win and Nell have just arrived to begin work. They are drinking coffee and chatting about the men they dated or had affairs with over the weekend. Marlene arrives and Nell and Win applaud and whistle for her after being promoted over Howard, but Nell also indicates that she envies Marlene's success. Act I of Top Girls takes place in a hip London restaurant where Marlene is gathering five other women to celebrate her promotion to managing director of Top Girls, the employment agency where she works. This scene is surreal, because Marlene's 5 dinner guests are female figures from different historical eras: Isabella Bird; a 19th century writer and traveler, Lady Nijo; a 13th century courtesan and later, Buddhist nun, Dull Gret; the subject of a Brueghel painting who led an army of women into hell to fight the devils, Pope Joan; a 9th century woman who disguised herself as a man and became Pope, and Patient Griselda; the obedient wife from The Clerk's Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. These women are bound together by their struggles against patriarchy and oppression - and Marlene relates to each of them differently. Groomed and manipulated from the age of 12, Danielle tells her story with startling candour and extremely graphic detail. She takes full responsibility for some of the things that she has done but when you read the unfathomable trauma that she has endured you cannot help but feel a deep level of empathy for her.

Win meets Louise, a client who after conscientiously working for many years at the same firm is deciding to quit. She slowly opens up to Win, describing how she had dedicated her life to her job, working evenings at the expense of her social life, without reward. She has found herself at 46, with no husband or life outside of work, in a position where she trains men who are consistently promoted over her. The stories of the historical women parallel the characters in the modern-day story. For example, Bird, like Marlene, got to where she was by leaving her sister to deal with family matters. Dull Gret's monosyllabic inarticulacy is comparable to Angie's. Some of these parallels are emphasised by the actors doubling the roles of the historical and modern characters. Only BookS Missing That Are Amazingly GOOD Are The Vampire Diaries (I <3 Damon) And Daughters Of The Moon Series.