Ideas of Feminism in Caryl Churchills Cloud Nine and Top Girls - Essay Example

 The existence of theatre has changed many a thing and most importantly the same has set up an ideal platform for the women to showcase their talent. Eventually their participation was restricted because of the state-sponsorship, this signalled the end of women participation in public performances. This restriction did not go down well with the women and it directly affected them, inevitably a feminist perspective came to the forefront and female-centred theatre emerged. Feminist theatre brought to the notice of people the hardship that women face and the repercussions of the same on women, in other words female-centred theatre started empowering the women. Contemporary theatre is incomplete without the involvement of feminist plays and feminist artists. Caryl Churchill is perhaps one of the most promising professional playwrights to have emerged in the 1960s; she shot to fame by writing impressive plays in the 1970s 1980s. She openly criticized the patriarchal concept that is still being followed by many and she also declared that women always make good choices regardless of the fact that some prove to be otherwise in the long run. Two of the most popular plays written by Churchill have a feminist perspective and they are Cloud nine and Top Girls. These plays were produced between 1979 and 1983. These plays were produced when Britain was being swept away by a very popular period called Thatcherism, these plays acted as lynchpins in establishing Churchill as one of the most promising feminist writers. Both these plays were highly successful in the US bagging Obie Awards. Cloud Nine threw light upon sensitive issues like colonialism, sex and gender, and race on the contrary Top Girls drew attention towards the interpretation of feminism under Thatcher. One very conspicuous thing about these plays was that it sharply contrasted between historical scenes and cotemporary scenes. Top Girls mainly dealt with the contemporary movement and hence came to the limelight. Churchill was flabbergasted when she was on tour for the production of Vinegar Tom upon hearing a woman talk about how well the women’s movement was doing, and this was because more women started getting well paid jobs and more and more of them were enjoying holding powerful jobs. When an artist comes to the limelight critics often turn their attention towards the work of the artist and Churchill’s case was no different, both her works drew way too much critical attention. They came to a conclusion that both her works were very audacious but the readers still interpret the works in a very different way. Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls was considered as unique because it brings to light the challenges that women face in this contemporary business world and in the society. “Premiering on August 28, 1982, in the Royal Court Theatre in London before making its New York debut on December 28, 1982, in the Public Theatre, Top Girls won an Obie Award in 1983 and was the runner-up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The play is regularly performed around the world and has quickly become part of the canon of women's theatre. Top Girls helped solidify Churchill's reputation as an important playwright.” (Top Girls 2 August 2009). Top Girls was highly praised by the critics for more reasons than one; the central character portrays the price of success that she pays in the play and in addition to this there are several eye catching techniques used in the play such as overlapping dialogues, a near perfect mix of fantasy and reality and a host of other conspicuous things. The dinner party which is also the very first scene has appealed to almost every respectable critic and the same is also the highlight of the play. The play forces the audience to think important aspects like the price that a woman has to pay in order to progress at her workplace and what exactly does it take for a woman to be successful at her workplace? The play also asks a host of other thought provoking questions which were never thought about by any other playwright of her time. Some critics also thought that the play was muddled up and the message was not very easy to understand. Choices and consequences is a very eye catching them of Top Girls, “Nearly every character in Top Girls has made or is in the process of making life-changing decisions with important consequences. The dinner party in act 1, scene 1 exemplifies this. Each of the historical figures has made a hard choice. For example, Pope Joan chose to live like a boy, and then a man, in public. When she became pregnant by her secret lover, the stoning death of her and her baby were consequences of her chosen life.” (Themes). Both the plays show that individuals are more than capable of not only bringing about changes in themselves but they are also capable of bringing changes in the society on the whole. Both the plays also display a very theatrical mind at display because everything fits in the play almost perfectly. There is no denying that fact that Churchill is a feminist and a socialist as proclaimed by her. Top Girls display a certain element of capitalism and how girls often forsake humanity in order to grow economically. Top Girls also portray a very unprecedented technique of women being exploited by women; this has something to do with women being exploited by men in the past. The play also shows how one character is even ready to part with her motherhood in order to maintain her economic status. Techniques like cross-gender, cross-racial have been very successfully employed in Cloud Nine and critics have also made a note of the same and appreciated it. The same also goes to show sexual significance during that time. The Victorian Era comes to light as we get engrossed in the play; the same also creates a sexual stereotype which unravels the hypocritical approach of the people during that time. The next act takes place after a century but the most surprising thing is that the characters have only aged 25 years, the characters find themselves caught between perplexing choices and the same is really intriguing. Act I of Cloud Nine is presented in a British African colony based in the nineteenth century; the first scene brings to light the verandah of a house. The opening song introduces the most important characters of the play in Clive, Joshua and other major characters of the play. “Then the family gathers: their children Victoria and Edward; the governess, Ellen; and Betty’s mother, Maud. Edward is looking after Victoria’s doll, which annoys his father because he thinks this is unmasculine. Betty is nervous at the thought of entertaining a guest. Mrs. Saunders, a widowed neighbour, arrives to take shelter; the local tribes are preparing for war, and she is afraid to stay in her own house.” (Cloud Nine) Churchill was a part of Joint Stock Company and the members used to enact their ideas and this is how Churchill got an idea to write Cloud Nine and she certainly succeeded as a playwright. Sexual identities are pushed really hard in Act 2 much harder than how they were portrayed in Act 1, the play is a mere reflection of the reality and not the reality, it is discombobulating because it shows way too many clashes of sexuality and it is difficult to interpret it but once we successfully interpret it then we understand the essence of the same. “The play itself is extremely political and according to David Richard Jones who “…divides political theatre into two strategies, which are really the dominant styles of the last century: “reflectionist”…and “interventionist” (otherwise Brechtian or modernist).” (Jones 144) explains how the use of the text as a tool of “intervention” reinforces the idea that the play helps audience to discover their true reality. A reality which, at the point when the play is occurring, is one in which country is struggling to find its own identity (to resurface from the post-war image) much like the characters in Act II are trying to find their sexual identity. (Analysis of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine) Cloud Nine mainly focuses on the situation in post war Britain and how women started taking up roles in prestigious companies, she was a writer and she raised her three sons simultaneously while being a writer and the same also goes to show that there were tremendous changes taking place during the time she started writing and the same is reflected in her plays. 1980s was a period when there was a lot happening in Britain and the same has been portrayed in the plays, people who lived in the colonized areas and how life was like for them has been depicted in Cloud Nine. The readers have sometimes given very harsh reactions to her work and the same has never gone down too well with the author. The work of the author has many a time come under intense scrutiny. “She remains purposely enigmatic. We know that she was born in London but her family moved to Montreal, where she lived from 1948-55. She then read English at Oxford, produced three plays, and, on graduating, began writing radio plays for the BBC. In 1961 she married the lawyer David Harter, with whom she now lives in Islington, and has three sons. But she is no recluse: she always gets involved in the rehearsals of her new plays: indeed, many were developed during rehearsals. Here, her peers and colleagues describe one of our greatest living playwrights.” (Why Caryl Churchill is the Top Girl) The concept of emancipation of women has exquisitely presently in her work, it is a battle with the patriarchal society and the author has certainly given the patriarchal approach a run for its money. The male chauvinism which is still prevalent in our society has been ridiculed in her work. Her characters show a double approach which changes the perspective of looking at the characters. Cloud Nine was a very big commercial success when it was first produced in the year 1979 and it was produced in England. Churchill’s work has more qualities than one, her work is political and it is also comic and this has been looked at many as a way to bring about social reform. There is very less rage shown in her work and there is lot that we get to learn from her work. Churchill has set a fine example in front of feminists and many of them have emulated her in an endeavour to express a more feminist stand. Critics have agreed that her work is always very focussed on the problems faced by women in the society and she has done a lot in order to sort those problems out. Her work has inspired several people and she has certainly set a very fine example in front of so many people. “Churchill wrote in her introduction to the play that she wanted to show "the parallel between colonial and sexual oppression." She meant that it is the same mentality of the colonial power, reflecting male values that also results in the oppression of women. The colonial attitude can be seen in Clive, who has contempt for those he refers to as the "natives." (Cloud Nine) There are several women who get sexually oppressed day-in day-out and nothing has been done about it and it is really good to see someone take a stand on this issue. It is high time to bring about reformation in the society, women have always been treated as an object of lust and nothing more than that, there are various factors responsible for this. Media is probably the biggest factor which has always portrayed women as objects of lust; this is ridiculous and very disheartening to see. There should be several similar works that should enlighten the stereotype people who still fail to understand the untapped potential of women. This exploitation of women is mainly carried out in primitive areas, the same has been portrayed in Cloud Nine, how women in Africa are being exploited and how men take undue advantage of them. This play is a cultural shock to many because they are not aware of the reality and they take things for granted but thanks to this wonderful work for putting across the reality and for forcing us to think about the welfare of women. The play also throws light upon the colonial and patriarchal aspects, and it is real wakeup call, it is a wakeup call because the things portrayed in the play are still happening in some parts of the world and we as human beings are hardly able to do anything about the same. Another important theme of the play is alienation of women, this is the reality and there is no shying away from it. We must do something substantial in order to reform our society which is male dominated, women should be treated equally because there is nothing like superior and inferior, it is just a barrier created by human beings which does not do justice to women and this in turn harms their progress and it also forces authors like Churchill and various others to come up with such brilliant plays. The most important aim of her plays is to make us understand that alienation is unfair and it should be dealt with, equal treatment is the need of the hour and we should thing rationally because only human beings are capable of making the most of this ability. Ideology of the author has been very well presented and it should not be concealed, it should be made very clear to the readers. To conclude it is very fair to say that these two plays expansively present the alienation of women and also present a feminist perspective. Cloud Nine calls for a change in the society and forces the audience to see the play logically and rationally. The play became a very huge success because it operated within the rules set for a play, there were political restrictions back then but it became a hit because it conveyed a very strong message and did not violate those guidelines. Top Girls throws light upon the perspective of feminism under Margaret Thatcher and it also deals with the oppression of women, it is high time to come of age and realize that women are no less than men and we must treat them with respect, we should not alienate them and inflict pain upon them in order to make our society a better place to live in. Cloud Nine would not have been a huge hit had it violated those guidelines but all in all it calls for a change in the society and it also brings to light what women are capable of doing. Works Cited Analysis of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine (2006). In Associated Content http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/29863/analysis_of_caryl_churchills_cloud_pg2.html?cat=38 (Accessed on 2 August 2009) Cloud Nine (2007). In E Notes http://www.enotes.com/cloud-nine (Accessed on 2 August 2009) Cloud Nine (2009). In Book Rags http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-cloudnine/themes.html (Accessed on 2 August 2009) Top Girls (2006). In E Notes http://www.enotes.com/top-girls (Accessed on 2 August 2009) Themes (2006). In E Notes http://www.enotes.com/top-girls/themes (Accessed on 2 August 2009) Why Caryl Churchill is the Top Girl (2008). In Times Online http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article4634455.ece (Accessed on 2 August 2009) Bibliography Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory. Manchester University Press. New York, New York. 1995.  Boireau, Nicole. “Drama on Drama: Dimensions of Theatricality on the Contemporary British Stage”. Theatre Journal. Vol. 51, No. 2, 1999, 227-228.  Diamond, Elin. “Refusing the Romanticism of Identity: Narrative Interventions in Churchill, Benmussa, Druas”. Theatre Journal. Vol. 37, No. 3, Oct. 1985, 273-286.  Churchill, Caryl. Cloud Nine. Pluto Press. London, England. 1983.  Read More