Preview: Daisy Pulls It Off

Putney Arts Theatre will soon be staging an amateur production of the much loved comedy play ‘Daisy pulls It off’, written by Denise Deegan – a play which first premiered back in 1983.

‘Daisy Pulls It Off’ takes place in a 1920s girls boarding school and tells the story of Daisy Meredish, a lively, rough-round-the-edges, fun loving girl form a poor background, who wins a scholarship to the prim and proper Grangewood School for Young Ladies. During her time there Daisy must overcome various trials and tribulations, often rooted in snobbery and prejudice including false accusations, and eventually find her place. This coming-of-age play explores truths about class systems and social prejudice in a humorous way and has the feel of an Angela Bazil or Enid Blyton style novel.

The production is a collaboration between Putney Theatre Company and Group 64 Youth Theatre and is being directed by Sarah Kitchen, a former stage actress who starred in a production of the play herself, 20 years back. ‘That is where I really fell in love with it and felt it was the perfect play for combining the two theatre companies.’

The cast is split roughly half and half between the theatre groups and Kitchen is hoping this production will set a precedent for combining the two companies in following years.

Kitchen also noted that the difficulties faced by working with school children in the holiday period had an unexpected and fortunate advantage to production. ‘It meant we had to have one really intensive week rather than spreading it out.’ This had a positive effect on the development of the cast and their characters, so much so that Kitchen wishes to repeat this process in the future.

The play was produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1983, and gained critical acclaim winning an Olivier Award and the Drama Theatre Award for Best Comedy; we look forward to seeing what G64 and the Putney Theatre Company make of it.

The play will run 18-22 September; tickets £10. Putney Arts Theatre, Ravenna Road, Putney, London SW15 6AW

www.putneyartstheatre.org.uk/PATEvent.aspx?Eventid=291