Shirley’s Party
by Katie Hims
For 50 odd years Shirley has had to keep things to herself. At her husband Roy’s insistence. Roy is a secretive man, and this has made Shirley’s life quite tricky. Now Roy is dying and he wants that kept secret too.
But Shirley has started talking, to her neighbour. And likes how it feels. She finds herself telling him about Roy. Even about Michael, their son, who is in prison for manslaughter. And this new feeling, of being able to talk, leads her, recklessly, to decide to throw her first party. For Michael, the day he gets out of prison.
A play about a family emerging into the light, blinking, looking around and seeing possibilities. It’s also a romance.
Cast
Shirley ….. Rachel Davies
Roy ….. Philip Jackson
Alan ….. Alan Williams
Michael ….. Ralph Ineson
Lindsey ….. Christine Bottomley
Zoe ….. Eden Ottman
Mia ….. Faye Weerasinghe
Written by Katie Hims
Sound by Pete Ringrose
Produced by Mary Peate
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Katie Hims is one of the country’s most celebrated radio dramatists. Notable plays and series include Lost Property, Black Eyed Girls, Home Front, 24, Kildare Road, Middlemarch and Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her most recent original play for radio, Waterloo Station, written for Ralph Ineson and Christine Bottomley, won the Writer’s Guild Best Audio Drama Award 2023.