Our Day Out
"This is the nature of the great debate in education at the moment. Our headlong pursuit of 'standards' and the creation of successful, marketplace children, has left a terrible and ever-growing underclass of disaffected youngsters who see no hope and no place for themselves if they don't have the right grades. I can understand the concerns of people like Mr Briggs, but he thinks that Mrs Kay is promoting anarchy when in reality she is simply recognising the children’s needs.”
Adapted from the 1977 BBC film of the same name, Our Day Out is a stage musical about a group of schoolkids from Mrs Kay’s ‘ Progress Class ’, who go on a school trip to Wales, supervised by the disciplinarian Deputy Head, Mr. Briggs.
The original stage version of Our Day Out was produced at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool in 1983, book by Willy Russell, songs by Bob Eaton Chris Mellor and Willy Russell
Original Production
1983 Liverpool Everyman Theatre
Producer- Liverpool Everyman Theatre
Director - Bob Eaton & Kate Roland
Original Cast
Mrs Kay - Linda Beckett
Mr Briggs - Roberts McIntosh
Bus Driver/Zoo Keeper/Les - Carl Chase
Colin - David Hobbs
Susan - Christine Nagy
"Both Bob Eaton and I had independently realised that the film of Our Day Out had the potential to become a stage musical; the original narrative could be retained and with a relatively large cast there were obvious opportunities for ensemble and chorus work. I was busy with opening Blood Brothers at the time but was already thinking about turning my attention to adapting Our Day Out. Then Bob approached me, asking if I would allow him to do a one-off workshop version with the Everyman Youth Theatre. We had a meeting, began to throw ideas around and without even planning to we were already beginning to come up with songs and ideas for how the show could be approached.”
Following that original 1983 Liverpool Everyman production, the stage version of Our Day Out became immensely popular, regularly and widely produced by schools, amateur theatre and youth groups as well as professional and repertory companies. Many productions saw the first ever collaboration between a theatre’s professional company and its youth theatre with many of the youth theatre actors going on to eventually become theatre professionals themselves.
Our Day Out: Production Gallery
Click images below to enlarge
“I wanted to take the opportunity to create the full-on musical version I’d first imagined all those years before when Bob Eaton and I had first adapted it for the stage. At that time it just wouldn’t have been feasible to do so but with the Royal Court commission came the chance to realise the larger scale show Bob and I had always imagined Our Day Out could be. I wanted to give ourselves the challenge of having the words ‘The Musical’ in the title, so that we couldn’t duck it – we couldn’t get by being a play with songs. The audience would have to feel as though they were there at a MUSICAL.”
In 2009 The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool commissioned Willy Russell and Bob Eaton to create and stage a new production of Our Day Out. Willy and Bob reworked, updated and extensively revised the script into a full-scale musical.
Our Day Out The Musical
2009/2010 - Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
Book - Willy Russell
Music & lyrics - Willy Russell/Bob Eaton – with additional music by Chris Mellor
Producer - Kevin Fearon/Liverpool Royal Court Theatre
Director - Bob Eaton
Musical Director - Howard Grey
Chorographer - Beverley Norris-Edmunds
Cast
Mrs Kay - Gillian Hardie
Mr Briggs - Andrew Schofield
Ronny/Zoo Keeper/Les - Michael Stark
Mark - Bradley Clarkson
Katie - Holly Quinn-Ankrah
Reilly - Chris Mason
Carlene - Abbie Mavers
Digga - Jack Rigby
In a completely revised version by Russell and director Bob Eaton the result is a confident, through-composed musical with street-dancing, rapping, live penguins and a llama. It's a measure of the show's ambition that not only are the vast majority of the cast local under-16s, they even filch a hoard of real animals from the zoo. Best of all, this show has acquired its sleek new look without sacrificing any of its soul… Eaton’s production feels well crafted without being manufactured; its success comes down to the energy of a young ensemble giving everything they've got”.
The Guardian
Willy Russell’s big-hearted musical, adapted from his Seventies TV and stage play with the director Bob Eaton, never loses sight of the social problems that beset the children at its down-at-heel Liverpool comprehensive. But it’s also hilarious and ebullient, performed with elan by a cast of local youngsters bursting with talent.
The Times
In 2010 Our Day Out – The Musical was re-mounted at the Royal Court with the following cast changes:
Mrs Kay - Pauline Daniels
Mr Briggs - Mark Moraghan
Ronny/Zoo Keeper/Les - Kieran Cunningham
Katie - Georgina White
