Staffordshire’s New Vic and Bolton’s Octagon Theatre will co-produce Amanda Whittington’s life-affirming comedy Ladies’ Day this spring.
Ladies’ Day charts the story of four women who swap their typical working day at a fish factory for front row at the races. Set in 2005 – the year Royal Ascot relocated to York for a season – the uplifting play will open at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Friday 3 February, before transferring to fellow in-the-round venue, Octagon Theatre Bolton, from Wednesday 8 March.
New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins said: “I’m really grateful that Amanda Whittington has revised her 2005 play for our production. She’s kept the story in its specific time and place but approached it through the lens of the 2020s. It’s fascinating to see the results of that, including attitudes to the Royal family, and to have our own recent history reflected back to us. The original engaging, witty piece of work about ordinary lives has become an even richer piece of drama.”
Ladies’ Day will be directed by Marieke Audsley (Jekyll & Hyde, Guildford Shakespeare Company, The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary!, Jermyn Street Theatre) and stars Gareth Cassidy (Marvellous, New Vic, @sohoplace); Tanya-Loretta Dee (Sirens, Mercury Theatre, Family Album, Stephen Joseph Theatre), Annie Kirkman (The Hound of the Baskervilles, East Riding Theatre, Beryl, Arcola), Jo Patmore (As You Like It, Northern Broadsides and New Vic, Frost Hollow Hall, East Riding Theatre) and Kate Wood (Brassed Off, Derby Theatre, The Full Monty, David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers).
Director Marieke Audsley said: “I am delighted to be directing Amanda Whittington’s wonderful play, Ladies’ Day. It’s such a fun, funny, heart-warming show, which tells the story of four fabulous friends. I very much hope that audiences will love meeting and being entertained by these brilliant women.”
Ladies’ Day takes to the stage at the New Vic from Friday 3 to Saturday 25 February 2023, transferring to Octagon Theatre Bolton from Wednesday 8 March.
