Ladies Day

“Ladies Day” is a funny, thought-provoking comedy about the relationship between four work colleagues in a fish filleting factory in Hull. They are all at different stages of their lives and differing ages but getting along well with one another as they are engaged in their boring assembly line task. Their banter dialogue with each other was very natural.   

The eldest, Pearl (Carol Clark) is retiring, so the plan is to have a day at the races. The ulterior motive here is that her secret lover for seven years has disappeared and she believes he will be there.The next is Jan (Dolores Constable) and Pearl’s best friend who until this time has no idea of her friend’s secret. Shelley (Amanda)  is very much the dreamer and a bit brassy. She is in debt and is looking for a rich man to give her fame and fortune. The last of the group is Linda (Jennah Costan). The most vulnerable of the four, she has a major domestic problems to cope with and her seemingly only hobby is being a Tony Christie fan.  These four ladies had the majority of the dialogue for an hour and three-quarters. They had been very well cast and interacted well thoughout the whole action of the play.  At various points during the performance they all were somewhere between merry and giggly and drunk. This was also well in keeping of their characters.

The men in the plot were Joe (factory supervisor) and Jim (TV reporter) - both parts played by Thomas Jenner. He enacted a brilliant two-faced sleazeball as he attempted to seduce Shelley. There was also a jockey, Patrick, played by Steven Bullimore. He also took the part of Barry, Pearl’s lover. There was an unexpected and tender scene towards the end where they met up and he was able to explain why he had disappeared so suddenly - he had died. The bright white suit with angel wings on the back gave it away! Two other cameo parts for the gentlemen were Ticket Tout (Simon Ancell) and Drunk (Keith Bignell).  

A television screen at the side of the stage showed us the four ladies travelling to the races and returning home whilst the set was being changed. The set with its seven scenes was cleverly arranged with a minimum of time effort needed to effect those changes.  

With only four main characters to entertain an audience, a plot such as this, needs to move at quite a pace and director, Julie Knight, made sure that this was the case. When one attends a production at this venue, one can feel the rapport between the actors, backstage people and the technical crew. It really is great teamwork. Congratulations to all involved.

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