Ladies' Day

PlayLadies' Day

Taken from an interview recorded with Amanda Whittingham

'What inspired you to write Ladies Day?'

'The Hull truck wanted to commission me and I was having a conversation with Gareth about what we might do and he said "I remember being at York when it was ladies' day at the races and seeing them going in all dolled up and coming out blind drunk - I think there's a play in it", and so he inspired me really. I thought, "there's something in this gang of women going into ladies' day at the races", so I ran with it and expanded on the idea.'

'It is set at the races but it's really about a gang of workmates and their friendships and lives and bigger things than the races. I guess it was an opportunity to write about these sort of characters. I think what audiences will enjoy is the fact that it's about ordinary life and I mean that in the best sense of the word. Four ordinary women have an extraordinary experience and without wanting to give it all away they come very close to winning a huge amount of money and I think people enjoy seeing people's lives suddenly transformed in the space of a day. It is funny and poignant and the characters are very familiar.'

'I have been to the races a few times and I have spoken to other people who have, and who have been to ladies' day, because I wanted to draw on a variety of experiences. Although it is all made up, it is not verbatim. Verbatim drama is not something I've done but it's something I would consider doing, particularly with my background as a journalist, but it's all about finding the right subject matter and a story best told by truth rather than an imagined version of events.'

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