WHY are there so few theatrical sequels, pondered Martin Barrass? Alas, the answer comes in Ladies Down Under, Amanda Whittington's second trip for the fish-filleting four from 2005's Ladies' Day.

You could see the potential for a follow-up after the Hessle factory workers won £100,000 each at Royal Ascot at York, but the excitement and natural momentum of a day at the races has made way for a more open, clichéd canvas in Australia, where Whittington's comedy is as broad as the Outback.

The original cast and director, Gareth Tudor Price, reunite for a journey of self-discovery Down Under, and as such plays are wont to do, all the ladies have an issue to resolve.

Jan (Sue McCormick) must decide where she stands with factory foreman Joe (Martin Barrass), who is backpacking around Oz. Materialistic, brassy Shelley (Jemma Walker) has blown her bonanza in pursuit of her modelling dream, but there is to be a sting in her tale, a sting drawn when she clashes with the more spiritual Pearl (Annie Sawle) under the stars of Ayers Rock.

Pearl's own big revelation is teasingly held back to the second half, as Whittington ticks of the list of familiar jolts (broken hearts/ bereavement/illness) to darken the humour and heighten the tender drama.

Lucy Beaumont's sweet, innocent, dippy Linda comes into her own, spouting Madonna's Like A Prayer as home-spun philosophy and finding her true self in the carnival abandon of Sydney's Mardi Gras. However, like the Calendar Girls film, when the flesh-flashing girls went on tour to the USA, the Australian experiences feel too manufactured and calculating rather than full of heart.

The ladies learn about themselves, they learn about each other, yet they do so in predictable ways. The frisky pace and sharp cameos of Ladies Day have been replaced by camp-fire navel gazing and a raft of male stereotypes with bon mots rather than characters.

Bill and Ben, the world-weary air stewards, are the stuff of Little Britain sketches, while Barrass's aristocratic hippie beach bum has one good line. "You're English?" he is asked. "I was. I think I'm over it now."

New addition Damien Warren-Smith represents two archetypal Aussies, the surfer and the bushwhacker, and like his body, there is something too buffed about his "Go live your life" mantra.

  • Ladies Down Under, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, until May 5. Box office: 01482 323638