1998/2003/2005
Caustically funny and sublimely relevant in today’s world of fat cats and anti-globalisation, Top Dogs has been a hit in 22 countries world wide. Set in an exclusive outplacement agency for ex-executives, Top Dogs reveals the gritty reality behind phrases like "lean management" and "downsizing". Top or underdog, they all stare at the same empty bowl.
Top Dogs was first performed at the Neumarkt Theater, Zürich in 1996. At the Berlin Theatertreffen, which invites the 10 best German speaking productions of the year, it won the 3-Sat Innovation Award. Later that year, it won the equally prestigious Mülheim New Drama Award. At the end of the `97 season, it was voted "Play of the Year" by the German theatre critics and was shown on German prime time television.
Dialogue Productions staged the British premiere in 1998 at The Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, presenting it as a site-specific promenade performance in 20,000sq.ft. of empty office space in the City of London.
In their 2003 revival, they brought this modern European classic to a wider British audience at London’s Southwark Playhouse, where it had a sell-out three week run.
In autumn 2005, Top Dogs went on a national tour to:
Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester
The Door, Birmingham Rep
Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford
Drum Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth
Ustinov Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal
York Theatre Royal Studio
Oxford Playhouse
It was supported by the South Bank Centre, the Arts Council of England, Meridian/Interact, the Swiss Arts Council, Goethe Institut, German Embassy, Swiss Embassy, Awards for All, private benefactors and numerous sponsors including Reuters, BP, Willis Corroon, Bally, Jeff Banks, Toni&Guy, Career Energy, Wilkhahn, Marble Arch, T.M. Lewin, Burmatex.
Our Top Dogs have been: John Cooper-Day, Morgan Deare, Patrick Driver, Michael Hucks, Mary Keegan, Kenneth Lodge, Penny MacDonald, Julia Marsen, Stuart McGugan, Tim Morand and Michael Sheldon.
“The kind of sharply knowing satire on the world of business you encounter all too rarely here...directed and co-translated by Patricia Benecke, the piece is dazzlingly performed by the besuited sextet ... this is the redundancy play raised to the level of fine art”
- Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Excellent production - worthy of a transfer to a major West End theatre. Exciting! Funny! Poignant! Innovative! Surprising! - a very good piece of entertaining theatre.“
- David Monk, BBC
“Widmer’s play is sharply written, with biting wit and pointed references to the changing economic climate in which not only workers but fat cats feel the effects of the corporate downsizing. Thrillingly directed by Patricia Benecke, this is an evening which veers between wild hilarity .. and terrifying intensity. Top Dogs is a top play superbly staged.”
- Aleks Sierz, What’s On
“intriguing, viciously comic glitter-ball satire... impressively authentic performances. Sounds and voices are cleverly interwoven to create a rich production-line polyphony and the strong cast give a beautifully controlled ensemble performance ... Patricia Benecke’s inventive production proves that a wide range of emotions can be evoked by the words efficiency, productivity and market analysis”
- Time Out
“...In such an apathetic climate, one must thank Anglo-German theatre company Dialogue Productions for bringing Top Dogs to Southwark Playhouse. Playfully engaging and grimly amusing ... Benecke’s cast get the tone exactly right . Top Dogs’ spiritual audit of the working world is very much welcomed” - Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
“This is a really unusual play which takes a simple scenario and deconstructs it with tremendous dramatic impact. The structure under Benecke’s clinical direction is always unpredictable. There is comedy when a husband and wife swap roles, apocalyptic vision, and six monologues delivered simultaneously that revolve around the theatre, one consisting of nothing more than beautifully expressed numbers. Where Widmer and Benecke really succeed is in capturing, in a believable but often amusing way, much of the pain that downsizing causes those who had believed themselves invincible.” - Philip Fisher, British Theatre Guide
“On a sleek carpet-tiled stage, five akward executives meet to retrain and overcome the trauma of rejection ... How could British Airways oust Tim Morand after all he did for catering? How could Patrick Driver get the chop from a man ‘he was almost friends with’? It is presented with style ... Director Patricia Benecke summons up an intriguingly icy mood ... The strong cast are vulnerable but slick in their Jeff Banks suits. David Gilchrist’s grinding soundtrack adds to the crisp alienation of Jo Joelson’s strip-lit design.” - Dominic Maxwell, Evening Standard
