Ladies' Day

“Ladies’ Day” is a popular play to stage right now, and it’s not difficult to understand why.  It’s a contemporary, bittersweet analysis of broken dreams, an ensemble piece with four distinctive but complementary roles for women.  It therefore plays to the strengths of many amateur dramatic societies, as was the case here.  The Bartholomew Players had also cast three new members into leading roles, and their faith in new and emerging talent was not misplaced.

The director drew a sensitive performance out of each of these key actors, who gelled pretty well as a group.  The conceit is that they had been working together for years, but I didn’t always feel that they could finish each other’s sentences, and “interruptions” were occasionally preceded by small but significant silences.  There was a proper emphasis on clarity, and the clever and witty dialogue deserves to be heard, but I didn’t always feel it was pacey enough to sound natural and authentic.

However, this shouldn’t detract from what was nevertheless an enjoyable, polished and thought-provoking production.  The four leading ladies delineated their characters well and the supporting cast all gave creditable performances.  Eynsham is indeed fortunate to have such a talented group bringing life to its Village Hall with productions of this quality.

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