Caryl with a Y

I’ve been writing about the theatre for years, but it’s only recently that I have begun to perform again, and I have Caryl Churchill to blame for that.

In 1999, I was privileged to perform in Top Girls. In 2004, when an original cast member became ill, we decided to remount the piece in her honour. Churchill has a penchant for writing in overlapping dialogue, and that can be maddening. It takes a while to master, but when delivered in the right tempo, the reality of the multi-layered voices waxes rather symphonic.

This device is particularly brilliant in Act One - the restaurant fantasy scene - when Top Girl Marlene decides to play Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, with history's most intriguing women.

Churchill also likes to have the same actors play different roles. I had great fun playing Victorian traveler and writer Isabella Bird. (Yes, she has an ultra-cool vintage garb brand namesake). In Act Two, Churchill turns Isabella into Joyce, a working-class mother trying to make ends meet while raising her slow-witted daughter Angie.

The first time I performed these roles, I did not connect the relationship between Isabella and Joyce. I thought this was Churchill's demented style just scrambling my brain. But in the remount, I realized that self-centered Isabella gallivanted around the world, writing of her adventures leaving her loyal sister Henny behind. Joyce was the sister who was left behind to clean up Marlene's dysfunctional family mess. I learned about one character through the other. Hence, my continued fascination with Lady Churchill.