} QcroweEr SI, 1995 Interview By Paule Douchet I learned something this week. Not to hang around the Other Press office on a Friday afternoon when my own work was already complete. The next thing I knew, I’d been talked into an interview with the director and cast of Top Girls, a play opening soon at our own Performing Arts Theatre. With tape recorder, pen and paper in hand I headed off to the Theatre department on the third floor. I was told they were there and expecting me, but for some reason I couldn’t find a soul. So back down to the OP office I went. As I walked through the door I can’t help but notice a lot of women I hadn’t met before hanging out. Lo and behold, they’re waiting for me. The whole seven member, all female cast of Top Girls, Talking to them I realized what a close knit group of women they are. So close, they were continually finishing each others sentences. Almost as if there were seven twins in the room with me. The play is set, for the most part, in 1982 London, England. The lead character is Marlene, played by Yolanda Buchan. Buchan also took the lead for the cast in the interview. (Sometimes fiction can carry over into real life.) The rest of the cast members are as follows: Lenore Clemens plays Isabella Bird, Joyce, and Mrs. Kidd. Lindsey Barr plays Lady Nijo and Win. Aimee Johnston plays Dull Gret and Angie. Erin Beatty plays Pope Joan and Louise. Monique Ploeger plays Patient Griselda, Nell and Jeanine. Nicki Dumba plays Waitress, Kit and Shona. I’d like to point out that this was a group interview with seven women who liked to complete each others thoughts. I’ve tried to give the credit for each quote where credit is due but in all honesty I would be safer to credit each quote to the entire cast. What is the play about? Buchan (Marlene) There are two very separate events that happen in the play. First, Marlene who works at Top Girls, which is a top employment agency for women in England, is having a celebration dinner as she has been given a promotion to a position of authority. Marlene has invited all these historical figures who are women to dinner, so there are people there who have been dead for a thousand years. Cast Women that have all done major things. Buchan Ya, they’ve all done great things. There is a women pope, there is a women from a painting, a Japanese concubine, and a buddhist nun. They come to dinner and tell their stories. It’s a scene that sets up the rest of the play indirectly but very symbolically. From there it tells the story of Marlene and her relationships with the women in her life. Clemens It’s also a play about class systems in England. Even though we are sisters (Marlene and Joyce), we live separate lives. She is so much higher than me in the class system. Buchan We even speak different dialects. I have an upper-class dialect, she (Clemens) has a very Londoner class dialect, but yet we’re sisters, only a few years apart, but we’re very, very different. It’s just the way the family dynamics go. Was it hard learning all the different dialects? Johnston We had a voice coach come in. We all had to learn the upper class dialect and then we learned the specific dialects for our different characters. How would you describe the overall mood and setting of Top Girls? Buchan & Crew It’s not a play for glitzy scenes, props and action. It’s a make-you-think, character-orientated type of play. Buchan Everyone’s character in the play really represents a certain type of women in society. All the women that we play in the second half are reflected in the characters that come to dinner in the first scene. Beatty & Crew .. Throughout the whole play. You notice how we each play different characters. There are traits and qualities that are very similar from the first character that are carried on through to the other characters we play. Although they are different people they all have the same qualities in a certain way. os es TOP GIRLS AT DOUGLAS Welcome to these hallowed tomes. You are now entering the OP. arts section. Speed limit is 60 Khz, no smoking please. First off, congradulations to the winners of our NAVEL GAZING contest, Denise Walker and Jennifer Jaco. Each of them won a pair of tickets to the Vancouver Playhouse production of Three Tall Women. Special bonus marks go to Jennifer, who matched all the navels and eyes, and identified all the people that they belonged to save one pair. This issue sees host to interviews with the casts of both plays being put on by the DC Theatre Dept. Top Girls is below, and Ten Buchan Marlene is the only one that stays the same. It’s all relative to the way she responds to the different dynamics and interactions of each character from the first scene and how she responds to the “similar” characters as the play progresses. Beatty & Crew Basically , it’s all about what you give up and what you gain living in a man’s world, especially in the 80’s. Barr I think it’s important for people to know that it’s not a sexist play against men. We’re just trying to show a point of view. Buchan It’s not feminist at all. We talk about the men we love, that we hate and the quarrels we have. But no one downs men. It’s a dramedy and it’s not directed just towards women. Beatty It’s about how women deal with men but it’s also about how women deal with other women. A lot of jealousy, conflicts, sibling rivalry and total inner conflicts. Whats the set like? Crew It’s done on a revolving stage. The stage manager and crew are really hard at work. They’re great. It’s an awesome set. What’ the director like? Crew You should talk to our director, Allan Lyséll, he’s a great guy. Make sure you put his name in a lot. He’s a wonderful man and we love him. He had to put up with a cast of seven girls... At this point the girls go off to have photos taken. I then head back up to the third floor with detailed directions on how to find Allan Lysell I found him in his office waiting for my arrival. How are the preparations going for Top Girls now that you are into the home stretch? Lysell It’s going very well. It’s a difficult play, very challenging. A lot because it’s British and there are a lot of British allusions and references that are not familiar to folks. Also a lot of the characters are older than the cast are. They’re having to make some transformations in terms of character development by using their imaginations and by trying to equate experiences in their own lives to the experience of someone who is 35, 45 or 50 years old. That’s a real challenge, to be truthful with it. The goal of the program is to essentially create character actors. They are working very hard. I’m pleased ,very pleased. So what was it like working with an all female cast? Lysell It’s really different. It’s also a female playwright and there is a lot of feminism in the play. There is also a lot of attacks on Margaret Thatcher and her politics in the 70’s and 80’s, which I’m quite comfortable attacking. I enjoyed working with the women. I did ask for a male stage manager just to balance some of the energy in the room. The seven women worked real hard and have been very supportive of each other. There’s been nothing but kindness and generosity, they’re really a great group of people. In your opinion do you think that this play would appeal to men as much as women? Lysell I think so. I certainly enjoyed it when I read it. It’s really a nice opportunity for men to watch women reacting and interacting, and be able to think about that in the relative security and safety of the theatre, where they won’t be tumed on if they make the wrong assumption. They’re wonderful characters, it’s very theatrical. On a budget? Special student rates are available, or you can catch one of the 2-for- 1 shows, Nov. 14, 8 pm and 18, 2 pm. Free preview performance on Nov. 9. The entire run is Nov. 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Lost Years is on page 8. Bon apitite. On Campus Arts Concerts Noon at New West 12:30 to 1:30 Free Concert, Performing Arts Theatre (Room 4100) November 16 Violinist Martin Beaver, cellist Bryan Epperson, and pianist Robert Silverman, November 23rd, 30th and December 7th Three student showcases, offering mixed performances from | some of the best student performers here at Douglas. Evening Concerta | Featuring faculty and students of Douglas College. These _ “scholarship benefit concerts are held in the performing Arts Theatre, at 8 pm. Tixs are available at the door, $8 Adults, $5 Students/Seniors. New West New Music concert scheduled for ‘November 22 features Bob Caldwell, Kathryn Cernauskas, Owen Duggan, and Michael Strutt. There will be a pre-concert talk at et Theatre Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill in the Patong Arts Theatre. ‘Nov 10-18. Ten Lost Years by Barry Broadfoot willbe in the Studio Theatre. Nov 3-11. | ; : “Amelia Douglas Gallery Womens’ Vision - oe ee oy. ‘til Nov i TON GE era ae mee em