Top Girls

Angie, age 16, played by the same actor who plays Dull Gret, and Kit, age 12, played by the actor who plays the waitress, are squeezed into a makeshift fort in Angie’s backyard. Angie’s mother, Joyce, played by the actor who plays Isabella, yells for Angie, but Angie and Kit sit silently until Joyce gives up. Angie wishes her mother were dead. Angie and Kit talk about going to the movies, but Angie has no money and doesn’t want to ask her mother or let Kit pay. Angie claims her mother doesn’t like Kit, and Kit retorts that Angie’s mom doesn’t like Angie. Joyce calls from offstage again, demanding that Angie come inside. They wait silently again. Angie claims she made a picture fall off the wall last night by thinking about it. She also claims to have heard a dead kitten outside last night. Kit doesn’t believe her. Angie threatens to leave Kit in the fort all night and not let her go home. She teases Kit and calls her a baby. They argue and insult each other. Angie declares, “I’m going to kill my mother and you’re going to watch” (36), to which Kit proclaims that she isn’t playing. Angie mocks Kit and says she’s afraid of blood. In response, Kit reaches under her dress and holds up her finger, which is covered in menstrual blood, to prove that she isn’t scared. Angie licks the blood off Kit’s finger, announcing that she’s a cannibal or maybe a vampire.

Angie tells Kit that when she gets her next period, Kit will have to lick her blood. Kit says that she’ll vomit, but Angie doesn’t care. Kit proclaims that she’s going home, but Angie says that she can’t leave through the house since Joyce doesn’t like her. Kit says that her mom doesn’t like Angie. Angie calls Kit’s mom a slag, and they argue about whether Kit even knows what the word means. Angie claims that she has “done it” (37), but Kit knows that she hasn’t because she can’t tell her who it was with. Joyce comes out and sweetly offers Angie and Kit some tea and chocolate biscuits. When they don’t respond, Joyce spits, “Fucking rotten little cunt. You can stay there and die” (37). Joyce gives up again and goes inside. Kit asks where the safest location to go would be when there’s a war. Kit suggests New Zealand. Angie hints that she is going somewhere, but she insists that it’s a secret. Kit prods her, but Angie refuses to tell her, asserting, “It’s a true secret” (39). Kit retorts, “It can’t be worse than the kitten. And killing your mother. And the war” (39). When Angie still won’t reveal her secret, Kit tells her meanly that her mother says that Angie has something wrong with her to be 16 and playing with a 12-year-old. Otherwise, she would have friends her own age. Her mother calls Angie a “bad influence.”

Angie grabs Kit’s arm and twists it until Kit yelps in pain, ordering Kit to admit that she’s lying. Kit doesn’t, but Angie lets her go. Angie threatens to leave one day and not tell Kit where she goes. Angie asks Kit if she likes her, and Kit says that she doesn’t know. Angie insists that Kit does like her. She admits that her secret is that she is going to London to visit her aunt. Kit is unimpressed, but Angie argues that her aunt is special because Joyce hates her, and Angie hasn’t seen her in a long time. Her aunt finds jobs for people and takes trips to America. Angie suspects that her aunt is her real mom. She orders Kit to be quiet and cuddle with her. Joyce comes back out and calmly tells Kit that it’s time to go home. Kit replies that they’re planning to go to the movies. Joyce tells Angie that she needs to clean her room first. Angie argues and then goes inside, presumably to clean. Joyce makes awkward conversation with Kit. She asks her about school, wishing that Angie hadn’t dropped out. Joyce tells Kit to stay in school instead of being like Angie, who she doubts will ever find a job or a husband and leave home.

Joyce asks, “What do you want to be when you grow up, Kit?” (43) Kit replies that she wants to be a nuclear physicist. This surprises Joyce, and Kit tells her that she can do it because she’s smart. Joyce questions why Kit spends so much time with a girl who’s much older and whether Kit has friends her age. Kit says that she does, but she loves Angie. Kit insists, “I’m old for my age” (43), adding that Joyce can’t stop them from being friends. Joyce replies that she isn’t trying to stop them. Angie returns from the house. She is wearing an old dress that is a bit too small. Joyce questions her about the dress and her room, insisting that Angie can’t go until it’s clean. Angie picks up a brick. It’s starting to rain, and Joyce urges them both inside. Joyce exclaims, “You’ll spoil your dress. You make me sick” (44). Kit and Joyce rush into the house as the rain begins, but Angie doesn’t move. Kit comes back outside and tells Angie to come in. Angie states, “I put on this dress to kill my mother” (44). Kit responds, “I suppose you thought you’d do it with a brick” (45), and Angie insists that she could. Kit points out that she didn’t do it.