CAREER V FAMILY

Advantages: An interesting,thought provoking play
Disadvantages: a bit too feminist and references to Thatcher made in it!

...Top Girls by Caryl Churchill is a special play to me because I performed it as part of my A Level assessment at college and later found that I had to write a 3,000 word assignment on it in my third year at Uni. This was of course a bonus having studied the text before! Churchill is very big on anything to do with money. Several of her plays focus around this including top girls and her other play serious money. Top Girls is set in the 1980’s in the Thatcher years and takes a look at the role of women in these times. The play focuses upon two sisters Marlene and Joyce. Marlene owns the recruitment agency ‘Top Girls’ and is a highflying businesswoman. She believes that anybody can achieve anything if they work properly and have ambition and drive. Marlene is a successful women who is driven by power. At the time that...

KarmababyUK 11.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Top Girls - Caryl Churchill

A Dark Country Tale

Advantages: Thought-provoking, intriguing.
Disadvantages: Depressing and sometimes uncomfortable.

...FEN is an thought-provoking piece, centering on a tight community in the fens of east England. The play suggests at being set in 1980's, and whilst it sounds very 'fluffybunny-lambs-buttercups-please close the gate' type of play, it is far from it. The play has a very dark side, and deals with issues such as child abuse, suicide, seperation, and first and foremost the plight of the farming economy and life in the country. The playwright is Caryl Churchill, one of the leading feminist writers of recent years. Her most well known play is perhaps Top Girls, in which actress Gwen Taylor has performed in. Her style in many plays, including Fen, is often experimental, and to research Fen she spent a lot of time in the rural parts of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and East Anglia. This was with the theatre...

mattC 11.05.2001 (29.10.2003) · Read review
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Review of Fen - Caryl Churchill

'I think I'm a lesbian'

Advantages: Very funny, very rude
Disadvantages: Rude words (gosh!)

...The predominant themes in Cloud Nine are homosexuality, gender stereotyping, sexual politics, and the subjugation of difference. The play was first performed on Valentine's Day 1979, and the cast included such notable actors as Anthony Sher, Julie Covington, and Miriam Margolyes (Juliet's nurse in the R&J film). Like many of Churchill's other works, the play was developed through improvisation and workshop-based activities involving the Joint Stock Theatre Group. This has resulted in a text which is sometimes odd to read, but which comes alive in performance. The first act is set in colonial Africa during Victoria's reign and explores the (often sexual) interaction between a group of mostly-white Ex-pats. A major theme of this first half of the play is the hypocrisy arising from the conflicting imperatives of Victorian...

Amadahn 11.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Cloud Nine - Caryl Churchill

Top Play!

Advantages: Thought provoking, uncompromising, novel
Disadvantages: Difficult to read!

...This offering from feminist playwright Caryl Churchill is an uncompromising critique of the capitalist mode of feminism as advocated by the model of the eighties power women, most obviously personified by Margaret Thatcher. 'Top Girls' deploys an interesting technique whereby characters narratives overlap leading to complicated scenarios wherein meaning is lost in the melee of competing voices. It certainly makes for difficult listening or reading but acts uniquely as a physical representation of the interupted and disjointed histories of the women whose situation it aims to ameliorate. The play is split into three main sections. The first act witnesses the meeting of various fictional and non-fictional characters from history, literature and art at a dinner party. The party has been organised to celebrate the recent career success...

matt_1509 11.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Top Girls - Caryl Churchill

OHHHHH NOOOOO Churchill

Advantages: Cheap, UK based
Disadvantages: no 'one' named person deals with claim, too many call transfers to different departments

...Having recently changed to Churchill (feb 2007)after being with Norwich Union for some years, i have been pretty dissapointed with the service I have had. I changed cars last year and having got a much smaller car, Churchill beat my NU renewal quote by a considerable margin, which was a good start. A month ago I was rear ended after stopping at a red traffic light, the guy behind didn't. Only minor damage, less than the excess, and the other driver admitted liability straight away. First Churchill questioned the fact that I wanted to use a Toyota dealer for the repair,even though the car is less than a year old and to use a non-Toyota garage may have invalidated the corrosion warranty etc. Then they insisted on an engineer inspecting the car, even though photo's were taken at the main dealer garage, and then they could not...

paulhanton 21.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Churchill Insurance Company Limited

Churchill Will You Pay My Claim ? Oh Yes

Advantages: Speedy service
Disadvantages: None to mention

...I've been purchasing my motor insurance from Churchill for a number of years now. My initial reason for contacting Churchill for an insurance quote was the catchy bulldog adverts, you know the ones, voiced by Vic Reeves - Oh no, no, no, no and Oh yes. However, once I'd contacted them I discovered there was more to this company than a catchy advert. I've always been impressed by their levels of customer service regarding setting up policies, change of car and change of address, not to mention their competitive rates. One aspect of their service I'd never tested however, was their claims service, until now that is. I'll deal with the details of my claim and how they handled it later, first though, a bit of background and information about insuring your car with Churchill. A VERY BRIEF HISTORY Churchill Insurance was founded...

scampi1 07.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of Churchill Insurance Company Limited

Churchill

Advantages: Cheep & they do let you down when you need them
Disadvantages: Be care full

...Since I wrote this OP I have had to try to claim on my house insurance with major problems, read the Chirchills house insurance OP I came to be with churchill by accident the company I was insured with was bought out by Churchills. You only find out if your insurance is any good the day you need to claim & the two times I have needed them they were fantastic. The first time I was driving home when a car swerved around a parked car & hit the side of my car & then drove off. I chased him and got his details etc the police said they could not do anything because I had stopped him within a mile of the accident. Anyway I phone churchills & within 6 hours they had someone come around to asses the damage & take it for repair. But the other driver was saying that it was my fault. Churchills paid for this case to be fought & won we...

diver233 26.08.2000 (07.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of Churchill Insurance Company Limited

Churchill Insurance

Advantages: Repairs service is excellent
Disadvantages: Get hammered if you claim

...We've been with Churchill now for 3 years, and admiteddly the only reason we're still with them is because no-one else will touch us with 23ft barge pole, however, it's not all bad. For starters, their premiums were very competitive when we changed our car from a 1.2 Seat Ibiza to a 2.0l Mondeo GLX. The premium actualyl went down, despite the bigger engine and higher value of the car, although this was probably because it wasn't some foreign crap but who knows. When I managed to wrap the mondeo around a lampost (which didn;t take a lot of doing I admit....) they were very quick at sorting out our claim. The car was still driveable, but it was quickly booked in for repair and we were given a hire car while ours was being repaired. Ok, so the hire car was a nightmare, but at least it was better than nothing. The repairs are also...

Biffa 22.09.2000 · Read review
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Review of Churchill Insurance Company Limited

CHURCHILL: HOLLYWOOD YEARS - MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Advantages: Many Cameo's, Britishness.
Disadvantages: Always waiting for the real action to start.

...being set, however after another 10mins then 30mins it was clear that the quality of the movie wasn't going to increase. In the hope of a good finish I stayed until the end, but that only confirmed the mediocrity of the film. Time after time punch lines were missing or edited/delivered badly. Potentially comedic moments just didn't project onto the audience. --- SYNOPSIS --- This movie tries to make fun of Hollywood films of British history which ultimately get re-written by Hollywood (see quote at bottom). The premise is that some Hollywood film makers decide to come over to Britain and make a film about Winston Churchill. However in their mind, Churchill shouldn't be played by an old large Brit, but a young American; Christian Slater (enough to put some people off already I know). The film then recounts in a most bizarre way how...

Puma1000 14.12.2004 · Read review
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Review of Churchill: The Hollywood Years

churchill insurance

Advantages: lowest premium, choice of installments or pay in full
Disadvantages: high apr on payments, have to ask twice to get cheapest quote

...I have recently taken out a policy with churchill insurance and i have to give credit to churchill as they were able to provide me with the lowest quote out of all the insurance companies. i have tried over 50 companies in order to get my quote down to £430.95 with 4 years ncb. I was quite suprised that my quotes were coming out so high with 4 years ncd but i am under 25 and do own a 2001 registered car. i did try phoning churchill first of all and the gave me a quote in the region of £490. I then got a quote from their website and their quote came down by £60. I do feel a little disappointed that they could not quote me the lowest price on my first call, however this is a problem i have noticed with all insurance companies. My actual policy itself has the following excess. fire and theft £100 windscreen...

ken_tuck 20.10.2002 · Read review
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Review of Churchill Insurance Company Limited