Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
February 16, 2018

Most of us have had that conversation about who you would invite to your ultimate, fantasy dinner party. Caryl Churchill’s famous 1982 play Top Girls begins in that vein in brilliant fashion.

Marlene (Helen Thomson, in a blue suit with 1980s padded shoulders) has just been promoted to Managing Director of a London employment agency, and has invited a group of extraordinary, pioneering women from across history to a restaurant to help her celebrate.

Helen Thomson flanked by Kate Box and Contessa Treffone (left) and Heather Mitchell and Michelle Lim Davidson (right). Photograph © Brett Boardman

There’s Pope Joan (Heather Mitchell), who may or may not have been pontiff in the Middle Ages, having disguised herself as a male from age 12 and risen through the ranks of church, only to be undone by childbirth. Other guests include Victorian explorer Isabella Bird (Kate Box), Lady Nijo (Michelle Lim Davidson), a 13th century Japanese geisha who bore children to the Emperor before becoming a nun, Dull Gret (Contessa Treffone) who featured in a painting by Breughel leading armed peasant women into hell, and Patient Griselda (Paula Arundell),...