Liverpool Everyman Theatre goes back to 1980s Toxteth with 40th anniversary production of ‘Top Girls’

Liverpool Everyman Theatre is going back in time as it stages the 40^th anniversary production of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls. 

Set in a divisive decade of strikes and uprisings; as well as music and fashion that transformed Britain, Top Girls is at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre on Hope Street from Friday 3 March to Saturday 25 March.

A diverse and inclusive cast blending Liverpool talent including Alicya Eyo (ITV’s Bad Girls and Emmerdale), Saffron Dey in her professional debut, local writer and performer Lauren Lane and Nadia Anim (a Young Everyman Playhouse graduate), with rising star of stage and screen, Tala Gouveia (lead in ITV’s McDonald & Dodds) together with Sky Frances, Ailsa Joy and Natalie Thomas. The production, directed by the Everyman and Playhouse’s Creative Director Suba Das, will be complemented with a series of talks and workshops marking 40 years of this celebrated play.

Marlene is at the top of her game. As the new Managing Director of Top Girls Employment Agency in the glitz and glamour of 1980s London, she hosts an extraordinary dinner party to celebrate her achievements. 

But what is the true cost of success for a woman of colour making it in a man’s world?

Returning home to Toxteth, a showdown with sister Joyce lays bare some hidden truths. As the sisters struggle to reconcile their differing realities, what does it mean for the next generation?

Fantastical and fiercely funny, Top Girls is acclaimed as one of British theatre’s crowning glories. As Caryl Churchill’s ground-breaking play turns 40, it is now more urgent and necessary than ever.

Suba Das said: 

“It’s been an unbelievable privilege to have been able to work closely with the country’s greatest living playwright, Caryl Churchill, over the past few months preparing our new production of ‘Top Girls’. Caryl’s fire and passion for creating a fairer world remains undimmed and I’m so proud we’re able to relocate part of action play to 1980s Toxteth, and a Liverpool on the edge of uprisings against injustice. Our production, opening on International Women’s Day, will deliver a new dimension to the play, asking what success under a regime that measures people solely by their financial value means specifically for women of colour with lead character Marlene played by the astonishing rising star of stage and screen, Tala Gouveia. 

I’m proud to present one of our most diverse casts onstage, and – with Caryl’s unstinting support – to also welcome trans and non-binary artists to our cast and creative team. Liverpool-born Alicya Eyo, Saffron Dey and Lauren Lane make their Liverpool Everyman Theatre main stage debuts alongside Nadia Anim (last onstage with us in the sensational  ‘Our Town Needs A Nando’s’), ensuring this is a production propelled by the power and politics of Scouse women who believe enough is enough.

With NHS workers, train drivers, civil servants and more on strike, as our cost of living explodes, I couldn’t think of a better time to revisit questions we still haven’t answered as a society over the past 40 years; or a better, more activist city to do it in.”

Top Girls is at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre in March, coinciding with International Women’s Day. Tickets priced £11 to £41 are available now here where there’s a full line-up of supporting events, discussions and accessible performances.