Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Patrick Graham

Toxteth actress returning home for Top Girls play

A Toxteth actress is returning home to play an iconic role in a play.

Alicya Eyo, 47, is set to star in Top Girls which has been revamped with a Toxteth setting for the 40th anniversary of the play.

Alicya plays Joyce whose sister, Marlene, played by Tala Gouveia from ITV's McDonald & Dodds, returns home to L8. There is a showdown as the sisters struggle to reconcile their differing realities.

READ MORE: Coronation Street's Max Turner's real age, 'forever love' and surprise award

Alicya told the ECHO: “I initially auditioned for Marlene, which now clearly was not right for me and then I auditioned for this one, Joyce. I was six when this play was set".

With misogyny rife for women competing in the employment market of the 1980’s, Alicya said: "I think everyone who read the play would love to be in it, it's a woman's play, a power thing, but so much more.

“Caryl Churchill is a brilliant writer as well. She stood out for me when I was at school, so to be a part of one of her plays is brilliant.

Alicya Eyo from Toxteth appears in the 40th anniversary production of Caryl Curchill's play, Top Girls at the Everyman Theatre (Copyright: Alicya Eyo) (Alicya Eyo)

"What’s frightening, when I got the audition and read the play again was just how relevant it is today and what's going on and the fact nothing has changed. 40 years on you would think things would have moved on”.

Director Suba Das said: "It’s been an unbelievable privilege to have been able to work closely with the country’s greatest living playwright, Caryl Churchill, over the past months.

“Caryl’s fire and passion for creating a fairer world remains undimmed. Our production will deliver a new dimension to the play, asking what success under a regime that measures people solely by their financial value means specifically for women of colour”.

Alicya said: "I moved to London when I was 14, just before that I went to dance school on West Derby Road. We started drama classes and I found I loved that more than dancing.

Alicya Eyo in Top Girls rehearsals at the Everyman Theatre (Image: Olivia Carroll/Everyman Theatre) (Olivia Carroll/Everyman Theatre)

"I decided to start acting when I was 14. I knew that's what I wanted”.

By 18 Alicya decided she wanted to go to drama school.

She said: "I auditioned for a load of places, I got into a few but could not afford to go. I just went in blind to these auditions and they were paid drama courses. I didn't realise that."

Her luck changed after the intervention of an actor who later became a Labour MP. Alicya said: "My mum wrote a letter to Glenda Jackson and I ended up getting a scholarship, as I couldn't afford to go to the ones I got in.

Liverpool 8's Alicya Eyo (3rd from right) with Tala Gouveia (2nd Right) and the Cast of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls (Image: Olivia Carroll/Everyman Theatre) (Olivia Carroll/Everyman Theatre)

"She wrote to a drama school, she didn't pay for it, but got me the scholarship. I never got to thank her personally for that".

Aged 19, Alicya got her first professional role at London's Royal Court in Cockroach Who, by Jess Walters. She played a 13 year old psychopath.

Alicya said: "To any aspiring girls out there who want to get into this industry, I say study hard. Back in the day it was competitive, but now it's a whole different ball game.

"Don't look for 15 minutes of fame, study for what you want to do. Learn your craft and be brave".

For ticket information visit Liverpool Everyman HERE

Top Girls is at the Everyman Theatre Hope Street from Friday, March 3 to Saturday March 25.

The countdown has officially started. Join our Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool Facebook group

READ NEXT

Scouse teen wows Paris tourists as she performs with buskers in front of Eiffel Tower

Tesco issues Sunday roast dinner warning to all customers

Odds on coldest March ever slashed as Met Office warns of chilly start to month

What Little Ant and Dec look like now as Saturday Night Takeaway returns

Labour Party paid for lawyers for councillors involved in parking probe

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.