Review: Ladies Unleashed at Robin Hood Theatre, Averham

The ladies are unleashed in the latest production by the Robin Hood Theatre Company at Averham this week.

Running to Saturday, Ladies Unleashed, is the third in the trilogy of plays by Amanda Whittington following the success of Ladies Day and Ladies Down Under.

The latest adventure sees the friends head off to Lindisfarne for Linda’s hen do, sorry, small pre-wedding gathering.

Linda, Pearl and Jan are unexpectedly joined by Shelley, last seen in Australia and not heard from in months – to the delight of Linda and dismay of the others.

Her appearance – coupled with an unwanted night under the stars – sparks a night of self-reflection, confessions, accusations and truths among the quartet as their unhappy lives come to the fore.

Intertwined with their story is that of two Victorian Herring Girls – women who follow the trawlers to clean and gut the freshly-caught fish – whose stories and tribulations echo those of their modern counterparts more than a hundred years later.

Liz Morgan (Pearl) Sally Williams (Jan) Lindsay Talbot (Daisy) and Kerri McGarrigle (Shelley) reprise their roles in another excellent casting.

The two Herring Girls were played by Kim Leigh and Laura Talbot in a wonderfully believeable performance of an evolving friendship.

Directed by Geoff Morgan, this is a bittersweet, heart-warming take on enduring friendship, no matter what life throws at them.

A perfect end to the trilogy.