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    Ladies' Day (NHB Modern Plays)
    Ladies' Day (NHB Modern Plays)
    Ladies' Day (NHB Modern Plays)
    Ebook141 pages57 minutes

    Ladies' Day (NHB Modern Plays)

    By Amanda Whittington

    ()

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    • Horse Racing

    • Friendship

    • Gambling

    • Social Class

    • Fish Out of Water

    • Love Triangle

    • Forbidden Love

    • Power of Friendship

    • Betrayal

    • Underdog

    • Workplace Romance

    • Age Difference

    • Class Conflict

    • Friends to the Rescue

    About this ebook

    An exuberant comedy about four likely lasses from the Hull fish docks on a day trip to the races, from the author of Be My Baby.
    Work, love and life are just one long, hard slog for the fish-filleting foursome Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda. But their fortunes are set to change when Linda finds tickets to Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot the year it relocated to York.
    Out go the hairnets, overalls and wellies as the four ditch work, do themselves up to the nines and head off to the races for a drink, a flirt and a flutter. If their luck holds, they could hit the jackpot - and more besides...
    'With its Yorkshire heart and soul it has all the warmth of a Calendar Girls or a Full Monty' - Yorkshire Post
    'Hull Truck Theatre Company clearly has a hit on its hands' - Hull Daily Mail
    'Exuberantly up-to-the-minute comedy' - Guardian
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNick Hern Books
    Release dateOct 6, 2014
    ISBN9781780013992
    Ladies' Day (NHB Modern Plays)
    Author

    Amanda Whittington

    Amanda Whittington is one of the most widely performed playwrights in the UK. Her plays include Be My Baby (Soho Theatre, 1998), Satin ’n’ Steel (Nottingham Playhouse, 2005), Ladies' Day (Hull Truck, 2005) and its sequels Ladies Down Under (Hull Truck, 2007) and Ladies Unleashed (Hull Truck, 2022), The Thrill of Love (New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, 2013), Kiss Me Quickstep (New Vic Theatre, 2016), Mighty Atoms (Hull Truck, 2017) and The Invincibles (Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, 2023). She has adapted Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, My Judy Garland Life and Tipping the Velvet for the stage. She writes regularly for BBC Radio 4, contributing to the Woman's Hour serial and Afternoon Play slots. Her stage plays have also become a popular choice for amateur, community and school productions across the country.

    Read more from Amanda Whittington

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      Book preview

      Ladies' Day (NHB Modern Plays) - Amanda Whittington

      ACT ONE

      Scene One

      Fish plant, Hull. June 2005. Morning. PEARL, JAN, SHELLEY and LINDA are hard at work.

      Their job is to weigh, trim and pack individual fillets of fish. The fillets are delivered to them on trays from the smoking-ovens. PEARL and SHELLEY take a fillet from the tray, trim it and put it in a box. JAN weighs and seals the boxes. LINDA assembles the boxes.

      Their movements are quick and dexterous. They wear no jewellery or make-up; just a hairnet, overall and Wellington boots, all white, with body-warmers beneath. The plant is cold and damp; the routine is relentless.

      JAN. What d’you have for your tea last night?

      LINDA. Pizza.

      SHELLEY. Slimfast.

      PEARL. Mick took me down the road, it’s two for one on a Tuesday.

      JAN. We had pork chops, baby new potatoes, frozen carrots, fresh broccoli and Bisto gravy. Pork chops are on offer at Iceland.

      PEARL. We had Cajun chicken.

      JAN. Was it spicy?

      PEARL. Sorta.

      JAN. I can’t be doing with all that.

      LINDA. I heard that song on the radio this morning, what’s it called?

      SHELLEY. Can you be a bit more specific?

      LINDA. It’s by him. Michael Jackson.

      SHELLEY. ‘Thriller’?

      LINDA. The one about the boy?

      JAN. ‘Ben’.

      LINDA. That’s it.

      PEARL. Ben’s about a rat.

      SHELLEY. A what?.

      LINDA sings the first line of ‘Ben’ by Michael Jackson. JAN joins in.

      Can’t you sing summat cheerful?

      LINDA sings the first line of ‘Is This the Way to Amarillo’ by Tony Christie.

      Friggin’ hell.

      JAN and PEARL join in.

      Why can’t you like what’s boss, Linda?

      JAN. Boss?

      LINDA. He is boss.

      PEARL. You’re back in vogue, aren’t you, Lin?

      LINDA. Yeh.

      PEARL. Who’d have thought it, ey? Your favourite singer topping the charts.

      LINDA. And doing concerts.

      JAN. He put on a good show, I’ll give him that.

      LINDA. He were brilliant.

      SHELLEY. He were bloody awful.

      PEARL. You were singing along to Amarillo, I saw yer.

      LINDA. I saw yer.

      SHELLEY. You’re only twenty-four, for God’s sake. Why can’t you like Blue?

      LINDA. Who?

      SHELLEY sings the chorus of ‘All Rise’ by Blue.

      JAN. Claire likes Blue. She’s gorra poster.

      LINDA. I’ve gorra Tony Christie poster.

      SHELLEY. Oh my God.

      JAN. She likes the one with the hair, you know? The one who looks like he’s just gorr’up.

      SHELLEY. Duncan.

      JAN. That’s the one.

      SHELLEY. He’s a nob.

      JAN. How do you know?

      SHELLEY. ’Cos I’ve met him, actually.

      LINDA. Have yer?

      SHELLEY. Yeh, at Waterfront before he were famous. He asked me back to the Holiday Inn but I couldn’t be arsed.

      PEARL. Shame. You could be gracing the pages of Hello by now.

      SHELLEY. I’ve turned down bigger names than him, luv.

      PEARL. Like who?

      SHELLEY. I’ll just say Let Me Entertain You and leave it at that.

      PEARL. Oh, Des O’Connor?

      SHELLEY. Robbie Williams.

      LINDA. Have you met him?

      SHELLEY. I bumped into him backstage but he’s not my type.

      JAN. It’s all them tattoos.

      PEARL. I think he looks like a chimp.

      JAN. I hope our Claire never wants a tattoo.

      SHELLEY. Claire? She’s not even pierced her ears.

      JAN. But you know what students are like.

      SHELLEY. Yeh, tossers.

      JAN. I’ve seen ’em with their hair dyed blue an’ all sorts.

      PEARL. Not Claire.

      JAN. How d’you know? She might come home at Christmas with a ring through her nose. It keeps me awake at night, I tell yer.

      Enter JOE, their supervisor.

      JOE. What does?

      SHELLEY. The new man in her life.

      JAN. Shelley!

      JOE. Who’s that, then?

      SHELLEY. He’s a six-foot trawler man, she met him in Rayners.

      LINDA. What’s his name?

      PEARL. It’s all right, Lin. She’s winding him up.

      JOE. Yeh, well, there’s overtime going on Sunday.

      JAN. I’m in.

      LINDA. Me an’ all.

      SHELLEY. Forget it.

      JOE. We’ve got to get the order out for Tescos.

      SHELLEY. I’m busy.

      JAN. Doing what?

      SHELLEY. Owt but this.

      JOE. That’s what I like to see. Willing workers. Happy smiling faces. Warms the cockles of my heart.

      He laughs.

      LINDA. What’s so funny?

      JOE. Ah, nothing.

      LINDA. What?

      JOE. Never you mind.

      SHELLEY. Gorra secret, have yer?

      JOE. No.

      SHELLEY. Gorra secret woman?

      JOE. I wish. Are you working this overtime or what?

      SHELLEY. I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.

      JOE. It’s double-time.

      SHELLEY. Put me down.

      JOE. Pearl?

      PEARL. Ah, go on, then.

      JAN. While you’ve still got the chance, ey?

      SHELLEY. This time next week, you’ll be a desperate housewife.

      PEARL. A lady of leisure.

      JOE. So have you got it then?

      PEARL. What?

      JOE. Your bus pass.

      PEARL. I’m only fifty-five, thanks.

      JOE. Early retirement, ey? It’s all right for some.

      PEARL. I’m not retiring as such, I’m just . . .

      SHELLEY. Giving up.

      JAN. Winding down.

      PEARL. Yeh. Can’t wait.

      LINDA. Why d’you have to go now though?

      PEARL. ’Cos Mick’s retired –

      SHELLEY. And he’s fed up.

      PEARL. He wants us to have time for ourselves.

      SHELLEY. What? In a caravan at Patrington Haven.

      JOE. Trim ’n’ pack, girls. Trim ’n’ pack; trim ’n’ pack.

      JAN. There’s nowt wrong with Patrington Haven.

      SHELLEY. Nowt that a friggin’ bomb wouldn’t fix. Why couldn’t you buy a place in Spain?

      PEARL. He had a lump sum not a lottery win.

      JAN. Well, I think it’s lovely. You’ve worked hard all these years, you’ve raised your kids and now you’re done. Now it’s

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