Ladies Day

LADIES’ DAY by Amanda Whittington is a beautifully written play, mainly for women, and focuses on the friendship between female workers who work in a fish preparation and packing plant. Their situations differ: single, married, divorced and all with varying expectations from life.   They share home life stories, usually what they had for tea the previous evening, and their hopes and dreams.   With Pearl’s retirement looming, they decide on a day out at the races, Ascot has moved to Leeds for one year and that’s the destination of our four ladies.      

The set depicting the various scenes, was effectively created to portray the racecourse gates, the enclosure, paddock, beer garden and of course the fish plant.    The props were well sourced and used by the cast.    

The lighting was generally effective although it did occasionally dim (I’m not sure why) and the sound was appropriate and I particularly liked the use of the microphone for the TV announcer.

The direction of the play was well balanced with some nice touches, particularly inventive being the cast peeling off their white coats and hair nets to reveal their Race Day finery while on stage and storing the discarded clothes in the fish boxes.   There was rapport between the four women, and each had their moment in the spotlight: Pearl revealed she had a secret lover, Shelley yearned for TV fame, Linda formed a new friendship with one of the jockeys.  Particularly moving and painfully effective was when a very inebriated Jan revealed her longing for the attention of Joe, the foreman.  The women were well supported by an array of characters ranging from the jockey, the foreman, the lover and the security guards.   The principals were complemented by a group of racegoers and this added to the effectiveness in portraying the excitement of Ladies’ Day.  

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