Feminist Drama: Railing and Redress: A Brief Study of Sarah Daniels's Byrthrite and Caryl Churchill's Top Girls

In the interview excerpt above, Sarah Daniels defends her work against the implicit criticism that feminist dramas are primarily assaults on men. Her comment draws a distinction between what might be seen as the vindictive and futile attitude of hatred and the more complicated project of redressing injustices. She contends that what her work is about is voicing women’s experiences and thereby calling attention to the need for and possibilities of change. This study explores how two works by British feminist playwrights: Byrthrite by Sarah Daniels and Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, both overtly engage with political issues of their time, and illuminate the inner complexities and ambiguities of individual human relationships. Through their choice of subject and their various innovations of form, these two plays refute the simplistic agenda ascribed to feminist dramas of ‘hating men’ and challenge the framework through which feminist literature and indeed human relationships in general, may be viewed.