An interview with Playwright Amanda Whittington on Ladies Unleashed
19 Sep 2022 | General News
Why did you want to revisit the Ladies? Who is this play for? Are you part of a female friendship group and are there any moments in your friendship with The ladies go on a weekend break - not a hen do, as the character Linda reminds them. Why did you choose the environment of Lindisfarne for the setting of the third instalment? Do you think it’s important that this production is part of Hull Truck Theatre’s 50th anniversary Dual time periods interweave throughout the play, how does this add to telling the story? If you could sum up the show in three words, what would they be?
I wrote Ladies Day for Hull Truck in 2005 to coincide with Royal Ascot coming to York. I never
imagined it would have such a long life. The original production toured the UK and has been
regularly revived by different companies. Along with the sequel, Ladies Down Under, it's also become
a firm favourite of amateur theatres. Thanks to Nick Hern Books, barely a week goes by without us
licensing a production somewhere in the UK. People have taken the characters to their hearts. I'd
thought a lot about a trilogy over the years but when the opportunity came to bring the ladies back
to Hull Truck, it felt like the right time and place. I was curious to know who they'd become in the 17
years since we first met.
Anyone and everyone! I set out to write a recognisable yet surprising show about four friends who
are growing older, know each other inside out but still have secrets up their sleeves. You certainly
don't need to know Ladies Day, it's a stand-alone play with its own present-day story. If the
characters are new to you, I hope what you'll recognise is a group of friends and workmates who
could be your own. If you already know the ladies, you'll see who and where they are now, in 2022.
Their lives and relationships may have changed but some things stay stubbornly the same!
other women that have clearly inspired moments within the play?I still have great friends from my schooldays and working life, although most of us are scattered
across different parts of the country now - and the world. Yet when we come together, even after
years apart, we pick up as if it were yesterday. That's very much reflected in the play. Growing up,
my Mum worked in an office with a group of women who are friends to this day. The stories she'd
come home with were our very own long-running drama and I loved it.
However, is the play a feel-good night out?
Let's just say the night gets dark at a certain point! Linda's getting married and her intention is a
low-key break with her best mates, but it doesn't quite go as they planned. There's a lot of laughter
in the story but the feel-good aspect is as much about what we see them fight to overcome. It's a
comedy drama, equally balanced, I hope.
I've discovered Lindisfarne in recent years and it's such a special place. The history, the landscape
and the fact it's a tidal island makes staying there a unique experience. Being cut-off from the
mainland is a gift of a story too, especially in such a timeless and other-worldly atmosphere. It's a
realistic play but Holy Island allows for magical realism along the way. The ladies leave the
monochrome world, land in on the island and find themselves on a metaphorical journey home. So,
there's maybe a touch of The Wizard of Oz in the setting, who knows?!
programme?
I'm very proud to have Ladies Unleashed as part of the anniversary celebrations of this great
company. The play wouldn't exist without Hull Truck. Ladies Day was first staged at the legendary
Spring Street and strongly influenced by John Godber's pioneering work there. All three of the Ladies
plays speak directly to and about the Hull women who've been a mainstay of Truck's audience for
those 50 years. Working with Mark Babych to bring their voices into the present day has been a real
honour.
Like Hull, Lindisfarne is a port with a strong fishing tradition. Historically, it was a place women
would travel to work in the herring industry. The parallels with our four ladies' backstory as fish
factory workers was compelling. I was also curious to place two younger women at the heart of a
story about growing older and time passing. The social and political progress in women's lives over
the last century or so has been extraordinary. Everything's changed - or has it? We explore that
question within the story.
Relatable. Magical. Fun.
Ladies Unleashed runs from Thursday 29 September to Saturday 22 October.
