Ladies Day

Ladies Day’ a comedy by Amanda Whittington is based on the friendship of four female fish packers. They take advantage of a retirement fling and the fact that in 2005 the Royal Ascot Ladies Day was meeting relocated to York racecourse due redevelopment. Pearl is on the brink of retirement and makes a last minute decision which sees the four ladies heading to the races, dressed to impress. As the day unfolds and the champagne flows the friends reveal secrets and revelations to each other. Against all the odds the ladies find their way into the enclosure and manage to win the Tote jackpot!

There were many great moments throughout, one being the drunken scene with Jan. This seemed to gain the required audience reaction with laughter ringing out around the theatre. The scene was very well executed, without being over the top. The rapour between the outspoken Shelley and Jim was well performed. Although he did somewhat tie himself in knots (rather funnily) when demonstrating to the girls the bookmakers tic-tac, 7-1 appearing to 4 different hand actions, the audience did however find this extremely funny. Patrick, the jockey, played a convincing part having to sport the required Irish accent when he encountered Linda.

The excitement on the other hand did not seem to build when the ladies were realising they had possibly got the sixth horse win on the tote card. This was maybe lost a little due to  everything else happening, as the climax of a possible win, to sheer fact of being ‘piped’ at the post, did not seem to have much of a contrast. Although the final scene, when the girls where back in the factory, was a fitting ending to a very well performed and directed production.

The set as always was superb! It was very effective and worked well, from the production line to the grass, with a fitting sound track aiding to the smooth set changes. I would like to thank Blackburn Drama Club for what proved to be a very enjoyable night. The well rehearsed performances throughout made this a polished piece of theatre. Many congratulations to all involved and I will look forward to the society’s next production.

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