Director: Gareth Tudor Price
Reviewer: Claire Howdon
In her 2005 production ‘Ladies Day’ writer Amanda Whittington introduced her audience to 4 fish-factory workers who won a fortune at Royal Ascot. In this much awaited sequel ‘Ladies Down Under’ we meet the 4 ladies once again, this time on their way to Australia to spend some of their new found wealth. The play begins at Manchester Airport and we travel with these ladies on a voyage of self-discovery to the Gold Coast, Uluru and the bright lights of Sydney. While fashion conscious Shelley dreams of luxury and glamour, her mates, the ‘groovy chick’ poncho clad Jan (Sue McCormick) and endearingly simple Linda (played with excellent comic timing by Lucy Beaumont), set their sights on exploring the outback. As Shelley meets hunky Australian Danny she realises there's more to Oz than sun-kissed beaches and the eldest of the foursome Pearl inwardly toils with how she is going to tell her three best friends that she has breast cancer.
This is undoubtedly an entertaining production. The humour is a little obvious at times and some of the jokes feel older than Uluru itself (dated references to Mystic Meg and the age-old mispronunciation of Versace spring to mind), but it is gentle and well meaning. The direction is well-paced and every attempt is made to make full use of the comic dialogue. However the dramatic effect of the production is less successful. Often over-sentimental and un-natural dialogue alongside several attempts at the profound - Charlie’s line, ‘it is the road to nowhere my dear but at least it’s the scenic route’ – is maybe a touch over-ambitious. Additionally, the penultimate ‘Mardi Gras’ scene (full of unconvincing drag queens, Judi Garland references and cheap innuendos) feels particularly lazy.
The four leading females all turn in competent performances, in particular Annie Sawle as Pearl who offers a complexity and depth of character which sadly is often missing from many of the other caricatures present on stage. Jemma Walker (Shelley) is a fine comic performer but her exaggerated physicality and facial expressions would be more at home in a Steven Berkoff production than this particular show. Martin Barrass and Damien Warren Smith play all the male characters, showing good versatility. Warren-Smith is particularly strong as Danny, and despite the cheesy dialogue (‘Change your thought, change the world’) is the most believable of the male characters.
Although scene changes are a little cumbersome and the interlude music ranging from a Didgeridoo to a medley of Kylie tracks hint at a lack of directorial imagination, the simplicity and multi-functional nature of the set is effective and Designer Richard Foxton should be commended for this.
My main issue with this production is that I didn’t really care about the four characters at the end of it. The character journeys are badly narrated, resulting in surprise with Jan’s announcement that ‘I am different now’ when she finally meets up with Joe and shock at Shelley and Danny’s decision in the climatic scene when there has been no meaningful build-up. It appears to be a convenient way to tie-up the play rather than being the continuation of any meaningful narrative.
However despite these criticisms, the production is amusing and enjoyable. If you are up for some good old fashioned family fun, as were most of the full house observing this showing, then take this as a recommendation. If you want challenging theatre or cutting edge comedy, I would give this one a miss.
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