Commissioned and first performed by the Joint Stock Theatre Company in August 1977, this play takes place on Derby Day in Silver Jubilee Year. In the words of The Times critic, Irving Wardle, it explores 'a great public festival, held on common land and pulling in punters of every degree from the Aga Khan to the homeless family who are camping out in a Dormobile'. All in all Epsom Downs is 'a marvel of expressive economy'.