Top Girls Reviews

Bob from San Francisco, California

WALKED OUT AT INTERMISSION

A waste of time.

Eileen Auerbach from San Francisco, California

UNHAPPY WITH TOP GIRLS

First I should mention that my husband and I left the play at intermission, so these comments are about the first act. Both of us had a lot of trouble understanding the dialogue. Some of the characters spoke relatively audibly, but for some reason the dialogue was incomprehensible in that very little of it made sense to us. The themes were impossible to figure out. Yes, it's clear that there was a feminist motif. But for us the characters were not able to communicate their messages. For that reason, we thought that not only the written play, we thought the directing was a problem. I would not recommend seeing this play.

Paul from San Francisco, California

TOP GIRLS NOT AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME

The first act, while clever, frequently turned into a babble of different voices that prevented any subtle messages or themes. The second act merely told the brief tale of young woman that escaped her working class roots leaving her child behind. Not sure if the problem was the play or the directing or the acting but a number of the audience didn’t wait around to decide. No doubt will get rave reviews at the Chronicle

Jerry from San Francisco, California

GREAT THEATER TAKES A HIATUS AT ACT WITH TOP GIRLS

This is the first play that I walked out of at intermission. Is this a good play? hard to tell. Many actors ran through their lines like as if they had to run out and pick up their kids at day care. The direction is the problem. Tamilla Woodward was clearly not up to the task of delivering a quality performance. A good director starts with an audience perspective and goes beyond the audience’s expectations to thrill them. This starts by listening to each rehearsal with a fresh ear. Yes, you have the lines memorized and you know what the next word will be, the audience does not. Ms. Woodward who has an obvious love of theater needs to step down and attend many of the fine small productions in the Bay Area. She needs to see how theater is done right, before she attempts to get involved in it again. In short avoid any production with Woodward, in any capacity. Top Girls could be a good play; but you would never know if you saw this production. So don't blame the playwright.

Cathleen Miller from San Jose, California

BY FAR, THE WORST PLAY I HAVE EVER SEEN

Ten minutes into the show people started asking everyone to stand up so they could make their way from the center of the row to the exit. I, who have never left a play early, forced myself with gritted teeth to stay till intermission. The problems were threefold: 1) The actors were not mic'd properly so the acoustics swallowed their voices 2) The dialogue was delivered like machine gun fire and in such regional British accents as to be unintelligible. Even though I spent the previous year teaching college in England, I struggled to understand what they were saying. 3) The script was incoherent. We open with a dinner party of historical female figures screeching in such a way that it did not advance the cause of feminism! The second act was like watching your two bratty teenage nieces in an argument, because that's all it was. There is no apparent connection to the first act. Maybe all this comes together in some glorious denouement, but you would've had to tie me in the seat for me to wait for it.

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