Poole & Parkstone Productions [P&P Productions] 
The Spire, Poole 
Becki Dawson 
24 October 2025
The Poole & Parkstone Players was established in 2005 as one arm of the multi-faceted P&P society and always has something great to show us. This evening’s performance at their venue of The Spire in Poole High Street with ‘cabaret style’ seating, was no different.
Ladies Day by Amanda Whittington and directed by Genette Churchill is a comedy play around 4 ladies that work, day in day out, filleting fish in a Hull based factory. But with Pearl needing a leaving do for her ‘not-retirement’ and Ascot coming to the York racecourse, they manage to find their way to Ladies Day. Swapping hairnets for hats and ditching work for a day, they go to try their luck at the races. Stories of friendship, resilience and love are portrayed by this foursome – and their luck might just be in!
From the moment you step into The Spire you are already at Ascot, with the front of house dressed to the nines and Ascot ‘Nozeco’ and pink lemonade part of the offering. Genette Churchill has also designed a simple but effective set, transforming from a big fish factory into Royal Ascot with a few swift screen turns and some clever backdrops. There was also the use of two projectors on the walls showing their location but as these flickered on and off these became distracting rather than complimentary to the play. Other than the short clip where they show some of the racing, I don’t think they are needed.
Other than one long initial scene change (although they did their best trying to make it funny, it was a little overdone) and a few jumpy soundtracks, this play runs very smoothly and those on and off the stage keep the pace, show excellent comical timing and manage to keep their Hull accents throughout – these were very well done and must have been difficult!
Despite these minor areas for improvement, I think the show is brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. All four ladies play their parts well, each with their individual personalities and fabulous hats. The men do a fab job changing accents, outfits and personalities throughout – Tim Berry is particularly good with three very different parts to bring to life.
My standout performances of the night were those from Catherine Attridge and Deanna Langford. Catherine plays Jan, a loving mother, brilliantly and in the second half her portrayal of an inebriated state is just fantastic. You could very much believe she’d been drinking all day at the races! Deanna is perfectly cast and brings to life the lovely Pearl, taking the younger girls under her wing and bringing a tear to my eye in her big scene in the second act.
The whole cast work together brilliantly and you wouldn’t know that this is Genette’s first time directing. It really is a very fun show, and you won’t be sorry if you go and catch one of their last two performances today (Saturday 25 October) in a matinée at 2:30pm or an evening at 7:30pm. You can get your tickets online here.
