"Ladies Down Under" by Amanda Whittington.

Arcade Players.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Here's a play that I've seen a couple of times before and this production reminded me just how much fun it is and how funny the script by Nottingham's Amanda Whittington is.

"Ladies Down Under" is the follow up to "Ladies Day", this is the story of four ladies, Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda who have won half a million pounds at the races and they decide to take the holiday of a lifetime to Australia. It's a voyage of discovery for all four and they all discover something about the others and themselves. The other play in this series is "Ladies Unleashed".

Karen Robbins is Pearl who has to make the journey and discovers all sorts of new things while down under. She has just discovered something personal about herself which is the reason why she had to make this particular trip.

Caroline Byatt as Jan, is due to meet Joe, her boyfriend, at the airport in Australia and when he doesn't show up, Jan believes that she has been dumped, which couldn't be further from the truth.

Rheema Orme-Hawksley is the designer label loving Shelley who's also on the look out for a fella on this trip. She has a complete turnaround by the end of the four week holiday and she has grown into a whole new woman, and there's a surprise for her at the end as well.

Linda, played by Ellen Horton, also comes away from the trip a changed woman. At the start of the trip she is like a little mouse who wants to please everyone. At the end there is a distinct change to her whole appearance and attitude after meeting Koala Bare and Bondi Bitch!

Alex Chalk plays Bill, one of the airline stewards, along with Nick Hallan as Ben. Both Bill and Ben are very camp characters and both actors deliver a gem of a scene before the take off commences. You wouldn't want to fly with them!

Nick dons a set of high heels and frock as Bondi Bitch, And a very convincing drag queen he makes as well! Pair Nick up with Alex as Koala Bare and you have a dynamite drag duo, Alex's outfit is very Kylie "Showgirl" outfit with skyscraper heels making him tower over the other actors, although to be fair Alex is tall in the first place. Bondi and Koala, along with Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda do a wonderful version of the camp classic "I Am What I Am" at the city's Pride carnival, which get the whole audience clapping along. A real class act!

Jason Parker plays beach bum/surfer Shane who runs into these ladies down under, as well as Tom, the heroic fireman who has to deal with a bushfire which opens the play.

Ali Langton plays Joe, who she has come over to visit but discovers that he is not easy to locate.

Gary Lever plays the role of Danny, the outbacker who befriends Joe and also does a bit more befriending by the end of the play.

Charlie is an old "hippie" character who is friends with Shane. A wonderfully British person who plays the bongos, and is another great character filled performance by Nick Hallam who, with the help of additional props, looks nothing like his other two characters. 

Produced and Directed by Rob Byatt, it is slick, it is funny, it runs the whole gamut of emotions; mostly humour and happiness, but Amanda Whittington is just so good at injecting a dose of slap in the face melancholy, and then turns it around for more humour. Only one scene, near the end kept us waiting with an empty stage, but that was due to costume changes for our four ladies from the big scene prior to the closing airport departure lounge. It gave the audience a chance to settle back down from the rigorous hand clapping and whooping of the Pride scene. Rob also had several cast members enter the auditorium handing out Pride flags to wave in the carnival scene, and danced and paraded rainbow scarves at the front of the stage, creating even more of a fun atmosphere.

Set designer is Rob Byatt and Damon Pipes, who was also the Stage Manager. A full wall video backdrop which changed scenes from the airport to the outback to the city scenes, moving the action on and also letting us know where the scenes were taking place. The Stage Crew were Roberta King and Terry Thornhill, who did a great job of moving the props on and off stage smoothly, among the other parts of their job description.

Sound and Lighting is by Mike Beedham and Dave Martin. Not that much need of mics in this show and the cast showed how good their projection was and on the whole the mic'd section was good also. Great lighting, especially during the Pride section. The lighting also added to the  time of day scenes for the evening and dawn lighting around the campfire.

There were some great props, and quite a few of them as well. From surfboards and bongos to various luggage, departure lounge seats and a very realistic campfire and barbie with, from what I could see actual snacks on the barbie! These were thanks to Beverley White and Mina Munns.

A wonderful wardrobe selection as well as make up, especially for Nick and Alex's drag scenes. the make up was thanks to Hannah Reason, Heather Weaver and JJ McCormack, who was also the Drag Consultant.

The singing section also used the talents of the vocal coach, Rita Thornhill and those scenes were choreographed by Rheema Orme-Hawksley. Both the singing and dancing were great fun and certainly got my toes tapping.

I've mentioned it probably in a few other reviews but I am a big fan of Northern humour and this is proper Northern, as is the humour and the accents - apart from the Aussie accents of course. It's an absolute joy to watch comedy done as well as this and so naturally delivered and performed as well. It took my mind off the rain and the potholes and the diversions and the roadworks on the way to Long Eaton and set me in the right frame of mind to drive back home.

"Ladies Down Under" is at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton until Saturday 14 February.

Photographs courtesy of Nicola Tuxford.