The dress rehearsal for Thurso Players latest production on Monday night revealed the must see performance of the year so far.

Ladies’ Day, written by Amanda Whittington, is directed by Audrey O'Brien and is largely set at Royal Ascot in York where four fish packers escape their dreary weekday jobs and give themselves a special treat at the racecourse.

"I read the script and loved it, so my role then was to cast it, start rehearsals and try to bring it to life from the page," said Audrey.

And what a success she made of that judging from Monday night's show. The characters are believable and each is well-defined with their own back stories seamlessly inserted throughout. There are bawdy performances mixed with reflections, sadness and laughs galore as the four women stagger through a champagne-fuelled day at the races.

Audrey added: "I've been in Thurso Players for about 16 or 17 years now so I've done quite a few [productions]. This one was written in 2005 and it's a comedy. What I like about it is there's warmth, humour, energy and there's colour. I like the stories of the ladies involved and I like how the play develops."

Audrey says there is "nothing offensive" in Ladies' Day so it should be acceptable for a wide range of theatre goers from all age groups to attend. "It's a story of ordinary ladies going about their lives – then something a bit less ordinary happens and we discover a bit more about each of them but I don't want to give away the ending."

Amanda Whittington's "exuberant comedy" premiered at Hull Truck Theatre in 2005 and has been revived many times since. It’s a story of four likely lasses from the Hull fish docks on a day trip to the races.

Life is one long, hard slog for the fish-filleting foursome Pearl (Julie Kedward), Jan (Claire Hughes), Shelley (Clare Bonner) and Linda (Miriam Nicol). But their fortunes are set to change when they head to Ladies' Day at the races. Factory hairnets make way for fascinators as the four friends hit the races for an unforgettable day out. Secrets are spilled with the champagne and friendships are tested to the limit. Yet as the day unfolds and tempers fray, their accumulator bet keeps quietly winning. If their luck, and their nerve, holds the ladies could hit the jackpot – and more.

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The cast also includes Martin Shepherd playing all six male main characters and features original backdrops designed by Fiona Murray.

Thurso Players has been beavering away on the production for months and it certainly shows after the Caithness Courier was invited to the dress rehearsal.

"There's nothing local about this one – the production is set in Hull so our ladies have had to work on their accents. I don't think we can't relate to these ladies even though it doesn't have that local flavour. You still get that sense of just ordinary ladies getting on with their lives."

Tickets are available from McBeath’s Jeweller in Thurso and online from Ticketsource and via the link on Thurso Players website.

Ladies' Day runs over four nights starting on Wednesday, April 26 and running to Saturday, April 29 with curtains up at 7pm.

The Mill Theatre is at Millbank Road in Thurso (KW14 8PS) and further information on Thurso Players is also available on its Facebook page.

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