Opening on 26th October, The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham, stages Sheila’s Island, a hilarious comedy from the creator of Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots.
One foggy day in the Lake District, four women on a team-building exercise find themselves shipwrecked on an island.
Tim Firth’s crowdpleasing comedy, Sheila’s Island, takes that straightforward set-up and turns what should have been a simple bonding exercise for work colleagues Denise, Fay, Julie and Sheila into a very muddy, very funny and occasionally bloody away-day from Hell.
Best described as a cross between William Golding’s classic novel Lord Of The Flies and much loved British sitcoms The Office and Miranda, this Crescent production stars four company veterans: Deronie Pettifer, Michaela Redican, Zena Forrest and Jenny Thurston – who each bring a wealth of experience to the show.
For Co-Director Frankie Haydon-White, the appeal of Sheila’s Island was obvious straight away. ‘I just loved that this is a play about four women – and four middle aged women in particular, which is a demographic you just don’t often see on stage. All four of them have meaty three dimensional characters, and there’s something quite special about that.’
Actor Deronie Pettifer – who plays the militantly organised Julie – whole-heartedly agrees. ‘I think it’s really nice to be in a play where you’ve got four fully rounded women who aren’t there to just be a main character’s wife, or sister, or aunt. They are all proper characters and you actually get to know them across the course of the play.’
What sets Sheila’s Island apart even more is that this isn’t a show interested in analysing the ups and downs of female friendships. No group hugs here. These women are allowed to be petty, angry, sarcastic and even violent, bringing a darker edge to the comedy which develops organically from the characters.
‘We spent a lot of time focusing on the characters’ adds Pettifer. ‘Just exploring the different sides of each woman and making the comedy come from their personalities, rather than just slapstick all the time. I think audiences will recognise them as real people.’
‘The play has absolutely nothing to say about female friendship,’ says Haydon-White with a smile. ‘These women are not friends and they wouldnever be friends – they are simply work colleagues and they’re not the type to go for brunch after a meeting. They each represent four very different types of personality, and the fun of the show is watching it and thinking, ‘Hmmm, which of these people would I end up being like if I was stuck in this situation?’’
Which begs the question – if Haydon-White found herself stuck in the wild with only a sausage for sustenance, how would she cope? ‘I can barely cook a sauage in my own kitchen,’ she laughs, ‘so I would not be able to cook a sausage in the wild!’