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Pearl, Michelle (Shelley), Linda and Jan spend dreary days working in a fish filleting plant in Hull. Pearl is about to take early retirement, so to see her off the foursome take a day off work and doll up to the nines to embark on an impromptu trip, without tickets, to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot at York races (2005).
After an abortive encounter with a ticket tout, a stroke of luck provides them with tickets to get inside the members enclosure. As the drama unfolds we learn about the womens motives, Pearl hopes to find her secret lover who failed to turn up at their last rendesvous and she only knows is a bookie who will be at the event. Shelley dreams of being discovered or finding a rich husband to give her a better life and a way out of her mounting debts. The naive and innocent Linda longs to meet her idol, the singer Tony Christie whom the other girls sarcastically told her would be there, whilst Jan's dreams are back at the factory in the form of supervisor Joe.
Relishing the opportunity to mix with the upper crust, the foursome make the most of their day in a succession of hilarious encounters. Of course no trip to the races would be complete without a little flutter and they each invest in a six race accumulator on the 'Tote'. The excitement mounts as one by one their horses romp home. One, two, three, four, five. It's all down to the last race, will their hopes and dreams come true, or come to grief at the final fence?
This production first toured in 2005 and, unusually, the entire original cast have reformed for this revival. For this tour, a simple folding set provides an adequate backdrop for the fish factory and the Ascot enclosure, whilst the ladies transform from drab factory overalls and plastic hair nets to party frocks and feathered hats. One man covers all the male roles requiring a number of costume changes.
As for the play itself, the action is fast paced but contains few surprises and the humour is largely (at times painfully) predictable. That it still manages to be funny is due more to the calibre of the performers than the material they have to work with.
Adding to the atmosphere is a selection of background music, prominently featuring Tony Christie.
Martin Barrass played all the male roles (of which there were a half dozen) and did a great job in keeping track of his accents, from the heavily accented Hull factory supervisor to the Irish jockey and the John McCririck inspired TV presenter. His drunken punter was a joy, so convincing that from the front row you could almost smell the alcohol on his breath. Lucy Beaumont gave us an endearingly innocent and naive Linda whilst Jemma Walker (best known as pole dancer Sasha from Eastenders) gave a great character performance as Shelley - the kind of in your face (but ultimately vulnerable) brassy blond role (similar to Sasha) that she is obviously so good at. Sue McCormick was a somewhat scatty food-obsessed Jan whilst Annie Sawle's sensible Pearl brought order and a sense of pathos to the proceedings.
Manages to be funny despite the predictability of the plot and humour. Worth a flutter!