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    See Otterbein’s Dazzling “Top Girls” Through Saturday

    Caryl Churchill’sĀ Top GirlsĀ opened in 1982 as an ink-still-wet look at the rise of Margaret Thatcher, an England beset by economic anxiety, and the differences between what Churchill saw as burgeoning American and British strains of feminism. At its heart, it’s a look at empathy, the need to look out for yourself but the absolute need to turn an eye outside and give some deference and comfort to those of us most vulnerable.

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    Otterbein’s production, directed by Lenny Leibowitz, which opened this weekend, hums like a well-oiled war machine. It understands the hurt that animates these people, and it uses the physicality of theatre along with the way live performance folds metaphor and time – the direction knows that no story is just one story. Every move is the accumulation of forces and histories we might not ever be conscious of. The grand, audacious opening gambit here starts with a dinner thrown by Marlene (Daria Redus) to celebrate her promotion to manager of Top Girls Employment Agency featuring an assortment of women from history and myth. This dinner throws down a gauntlet and ripples out through the later scenes of early-’80s razor sharp naturalism.

    Isabel Billinghurst (Dull Gret), Lauren DiMario (Patient Griselda), and Kara Jobe (Isabella Bird) in the Otterbein University Theatre & Dance production of "Top Girls." Photo by Mark Mineart.
    Isabel Billinghurst (Dull Gret), Lauren DiMario (Patient Griselda), and Kara Jobe (Isabella Bird) in the Otterbein University Theatre & Dance production of “Top Girls.”
    Photo by Mark Mineart.

    The recurring theme in the opening sequence is that the women are tested and always found wanting by society or the patriarchy. Pope Joan (Kaylee Barrett) desperate for knowledge and the truth is laid low by her not understanding her own woman’s body and being stoned to death after giving birth to the child killed as well; Patient Griselda (Lauren DiMario), written about by Boccaccio and Chaucer, consented to her children being killed out of loyalty to the king; as Lady Nijo (Sally Clark), Buddhist nun, concubine, and memoirist, had her children ripped away from her and never told what happened to them. Fascinating sparks fly between the Pope and naturalist, explorer and writer Isabella Bird (Kara Jobe) about how they didn’t want to be viewed as “women,” while Dull Gret (Isabel Billinghurst) who led an army of women to war in hell in a famous Breugel painting provides comic relief.

    Death isn’t as far as our “civilized” nature wants us to believe in the contemporary scenes. The nuance in Reedus astonishes as Marlene tries to do right by her niece Angie (Barrett) but can’t resist a dig, “She’s a little thick… a little funny.” Her contempt for people weaker than she doesn’t abate even when they’re family or when they’re hurting as when she gets confronted by the wife of the man she was chosen over (Clark) and while she rightly isn’t going to step aside from the job and findsĀ properly stupidĀ the “reasonable” reasons given for her to step aside, her contempt extends to his wife, not just him. Her scenes with her sister Joyce (Jobe), who stayed in their hometown with no prospects, a philandering husband, and crumbling parents, flare and surge, and crash. The sides battle with equal intensity but without a moral equanimity and an understanding that rampant individualism isn’t just a failure of empathy but a failure of imagination. Watching those actresses spar is pulse-pounding, with Barrett’s Angie stuck in the middle.

    L-R Seated: Daria Redus (Marlene), Standing: Kara Jobe (Isabella Bird) and Sally Clark (Lady Nijo) in the Otterbein University Theatre & Dance production of "Top Girls." Photo by: Mark Mineart.
    L-R Seated: Daria Redus (Marlene), Standing: Kara Jobe (Isabella Bird) and Sally Clark (Lady Nijo) in the Otterbein University Theatre & Dance production of “Top Girls.” Photo by Mark Mineart.

    The interactions in the office have the hum of reality and carry symbolic and metaphoric weight like a knife in the boot. Jobe’s Nell and Grace Hoover’s Win have a natural chemistry and charm. Enjoying the spoils of their positions and new opportunities with the easy selfishness and sense of not thinking about the future that’s a hallmark of one’s 20s. New shades and slices of the world appear as we see them interview potential clients of their staffing agency. Billinghurst’s Louise is a textbook case of someone serving her whole life for a system that won’t offer respect or comfort or love and finally bucking it before it’s too late, the parry and thrust of mutual defensiveness between her and Hoover dazzle. Jobe’s clear-eyed Nell sees right through DiMario’s Shona, in classic hustler mode with the fire of knowing youĀ could do almost any job if you could just get the door cracked.

    The trio of main characters of Reedus, Jobe, and Barrett are remarkable. Barrett’s heartbreaking, someone who desperately wants what her sophisticated Aunt has but doesn’t have the cleverness or the luck or even the tenacity. There are intimations of how terrifying that can be in the pressure cooker of a cruel society. Jobe’s Joyce knows first hand how little choice most people have and her other two characters show alternate ways of dealing with that – the actor’s intellect keeps any of those people from bleeding into one another but still resonates across the performances. Reedus takes what could be an easy Ayn Rand/Thatcher parody and shades it as she reminds us why Marlene is one of the great characters of the last four decades.

    There are some technical issues. The sound wasĀ particularlyĀ bad for the first act of the Friday performance I saw, and the slowness of the changeovers robs the play of some needed momentum especially in the fast-paced second act sequences set in the agency’s London office. Some of the ways it’s beholden to the ’80s have problems – Sally Clark’s exaggerated Mr. Moto accent as Lady Nijo was hard to watch. But it’s a remarkably directed and acted play that has maybe gotten even more relevant in the 35 years since it premiered.

    Top GirlsĀ runs through February 18 with 8:00 p.m. shows Thursday through Saturday. For tickets and more info, visitĀ otterbein.edu.

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    Richard Sanford
    Richard Sanfordhttp://sanfordspeaks.blogspot.com/
    Richard Sanford is a freelance contributor to Columbus Underground covering the city's vibrant theatre scene. You can find him seeking inspiration at a variety of bars, concert halls, performance spaces, museums and galleries.
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