It’s Ladies Day at the Broome races and the divinely beautiful Mike is the toast of the track. But amongst the froth and festivity, a brutal act of violence reminds us that life is not just all swishy hemlines, debonair gents and fascinators galore.
Alana Valentine is one of Australia’s best playwrights. Known for her incredibly successful verbatim works, she takes her interviews and research with individuals and communities, and mixes them with a healthy dose of drama. The result is powerful, thought-provoking theatre in which the voices of her protagonists ring absolutely true.
Alana spent months interviewing the gay community of Broome to create a play that asks questions about tolerance, isolation, love, hope and the right to have your story told. Griffin is proud to present the world premiere of Ladies Day - a vivid, richly evocative play with a big heart, directed by Darren Yap.
Content Warning
This production includes enactments of sexual violence. If you have questions regarding the content of the play please contact the Box Office.
Director Darren Yap
Set & Costume Designer James Browne
Lighting Designer Hugh Hamilton
Sound Designer & Composer Max Lambert
Associate Composer & Sound Designer Roger Lock
Stage Manager Cara Woods
With Matthew Backer, Wade Briggs, Lucia Mastrantone, Elan Zavelsky
Performance Dates
Previews 5 – 11 February
Season 15 February – 26 March
Performance Times
Monday – Friday 7pm
Saturday 2pm & 7pm
Tuesday 22 March 2pm & 7pm
Run Time
Approximately 100 minutes no interval.
[Images by Brett Boardman]
Trailer, Ladies Day
Vox Pops, Ladies Day
“Extraordinarily moving and intelligent… It is a meaty and thoroughly entertaining work.” Dennis Clements, Australian Stage
“This is a profound investigation into what it means to be truthful in the theatre.” John MacCallum, The Australian
“Ladies Day walks an intriguing line between fact and fiction, with epic techniques keeping us alive to the contradictions inherent in turning the stuff of real lives into theatre. The effect is deliberately, if gently, jarring.” Jason Blake, The Sydney Morning Herald
“Directed by Darren Yap with verve and a clear emphasis on the humanity of the characters, Ladies Day becomes greater than the sum of its parts.” Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise
“… studded with powerful monologues and charged finally with an articulate denouement about the enigma of remembered truth, and who has the right to tell what stories.” Martin Portus, Stage Whispers
“There isn’t a weak link in this cast. All four actors give divine performances that are not to be missed… [Valentine is] giving a voice to inhabitants of this world that may not always get the opportunity to speak. And they should, because they have incredible stories should we take the time to listen.”Alana Kaye, Theatre Now
“[In] Ladies Day, nothing is more fitting then describing it as hitting, for it gets you. Right there in the feelings…at its core the play has such ‘heart’.” Kat Czorbij, The AU Review
“With boisterous and lively direction by Darren Yap… this is a thoughtful and generously entertaining play.” Ben Neutza, Daily Review
“Confronting and funny, brutal and compassionate, Alana Valentine’s Ladies Day reaches two important benchmarks of the best theatre: the 100 minutes duration seems like half an hour and as the play gets underway we cease to notice actors but see other people.” Catherine Skipper, South Sydney Herald
“As far as Valentine is concerned, now is an exciting time for local theatre… Certainly, the anticipation building up around her own play seems to suggest an important cultural shift.” Joseph Earp, The Brag
Ladies Day will be supported by Griffin’s Production Partners program. Remarkable productions made possible through the support of individual donors.
The research and writing of Ladies Day was supported by the Literature Fund of the Australia Council for the Arts.
@griffintheatre