
When Mrs Kay's 'Progress Class'
are unleashed for a day's coach trip to Conway Castle in Wales,
it is an exuberant celebration of the joys and agonies of growing
up and being footloose, fourteen and free from school. But this
is more than a romp - it points up the depressing present and
empty future for these comphrehensive no-hopers from the backstreets
of Liverpool, for whom a day out is as much as they can expect.
| SCREENPLAY: |
- Written by
Willy Russell
- Commissioned
by BBC
- Directed by
Pedr James
- Broadcast
December 1976, then again six weeks later by popular demand as
part BBC's PLAY FOR TODAY in 1977.
- Re-broadcast
in 1979.
|
Written in long hand in only
five days, Willy found this reality based drama easy to write.
He had taught at Dingle Vale school, one of the locations used
in the film and had experienced similar school trips both as
a child and a teacher.

| THE CAST: 1976 |
- Mrs Kay -
Jean Haywood
- Mr Briggs
- Alun Armstrong
- Susan - Elizabeth
Estenson
- Colin - Lennox
Graves
- Lollipop Man
- George Malpas
- Headmaster
- Robert Gillespie
- Bus Driver
- Bill Moores
- Cafe Owner
- Iona Bankes
- Cafe Assisant
- Jill Richards
- Zoo Keeper
- Peter Tilbury
|
| THE KIDS: 1976 |
- Carol - Julie
Jones
- Reilly - Stephen
Caffrey
- Linda - Jacqueline
Lucas
- Ronson - Robert
Guy
- Andrews -
Phil Johnson
- Digga - Joe
Jennings
- Karen - Sheila
Ashes
- Milton - Michael
Spencer
- Little Kid
- Craig Matthews
- Kevin - Simon
Driver
- Jimmy - Michael
Clifton
- Maurice -
Maurice McNall
- plus Ian Allward, Debbie
Bush, Janet Cave, Maria Chapman, Lorraine Ellis, John Evans,
David Ford, Barry Gillibrand, Sharon Grant, Miguel Lates, Graham
Lucas, David Martin, Malcolm Meades, Jayne Nilson, Colin Ungi,
John Philips, Judith Williams and Keith Williams.
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|
'I still watch it today. The
performances are exquisite. Shot on 16mm in just three weeks
by a first time director working with a largely untrained cast
it just seemed to be one of those charmed ventures in which everything
just fell into place. A great bonus, for me, is the understated
but stunning Nic Jones version of Teddy Bears Picnic over the
final credits.'
WILLY RUSSELL
-
The video of the BBC film Our
Day Out is not currently available, which is odd, because
the film is shown and the play performed in almost every school
in the country.
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-
-
-
Musical stage version of the
original television film first staged at the Liverpool Everyman
in 1983 with songs by Willy Russell, Chris Mellor and Bob Eaton
(who also directed).
| THE EVERYMAN THEATRE |
- Directed by
Bob Eaton & Kate Roland
- Musical Direction
by Chris Mellor
|
"The
skill and zest of the show derive from its success in following
the adult argument through while preserving all the fun of a
story for and mainly played by children... a Dickensian fairytale...
I have rarely seen a show that combined such warmth and such
bleakness."
The
Times
| THE CAST: 1983 |
- Mrs Kay -
Linda Beckett
- Bus Driver/Zoo
Keeper/Les - Carl Chase
- Colin/Headmaster
- David Hobbs
- Mr Briggs
- Roberts McIntosh
- Susan/Cafe
Owner - Christine Nagy
|
|
| THE KIDS: 1983 |
|
Children [x]
- Sue Abrahams, Michaela Amoo, Danny Ayers, Maria Barrett, Angela
Bell, Andy Broadhead, Maxime Cole, Vernon Eustace, Brian Hanlon,
Michael Kagbo, Andrea Langham, Victor McGuire, Mary Shepherd,
Paul Spence, Charlie Thelu and Jason Williams.
Children [y]
- Hannah Bond, Peter Bullock, Shaun Carr, Mary Farmer, Danny
Jones, Anne Lundon, Ritchie Macauley, Keith Maiker, Jacqui McCarthy,
Victor McGuire, Jocelyn Meall, Joanne Mogan, Joanne Oldham, Joanne
Pennington, Ben Wilson and John Winstanley.
The two groups
[x & y] performed on alternate nights.
|
|
- Stage version at Belgrade
Theatre Coventry. "With Bob Eaton and Glen Walford I overhauled
the whole show, restructuring, writing new songs, introducing
new elements to the text; ever since the hastily put together
first production I'd wanted to devote time to making Our Day
Out into the really big musical that I thought it deserved to
be. We got a long way towards achieving that in Coventry, helped
in no small way by a great cast of young actors from the Coventry
area. We didn't, though, fully get there and, along with Bob
and Glen I'm still hoping that we can mount one more production,
the one that will, in terms of musical theatre, take Our Day
Out all the way.
| THE BELGRADE THEATRE |
- Written by
Willy Russell
- Songs by Willy
Russell, Chris Mellor and Bob Eaton
- Belgrade Theatre,
Coventry
- Directed by
Glen Walford
|
"The highlight is the performance
of the young cast who perhaps quite rightly completely overshadow
the older actors. The youngsters are convincing and thoroughly
engaging from start to finish."
| THE CAST: 1996 |
- Mrs Kay -
Lynn Whitehead
- Mr Briggs
- John Wild
- Carol - Elizabeth
Brennan
- Linda - Bethan
Webb
|
"The audience rose almost in
unison at the end of the entirely compelling performance...
I have never seen a reaction like it at the Belgrade."
|
"Willy Russell's play is a delight...
in every member of the young cast you could see someone you recognise
from your own school trips. From the young stunner after the
teacher to the hard knock with his leather jacket, but the best
is the two girls who find everything so boring.. that's until
the trips over and they admit they'd had a great day."
"I cried for the first time
in years at the theatre... and I didn't care a bit."
"Everyone in Coventry should
see this play... great popular entertainment with more than just
a little poignancy."
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