Calendar Girls

Synopsis

A group of extraordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire WI, persuade one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference - no more photos of Wharfedale Bridges or Norman churches for them. Overcoming their initial reserve, the friends drop their dressing gowns, modesty spared only by artfully placed cakes, knitting and flower arrangements. Puzzling their husbands, mortifying their children, and riding the wrath of the outraged WI, they spark a global phenomenon. But as media interest snowballs, the Calendar Girls find themselves exposed in ways they’d never expected, revealing more about themselves than they’d ever planned. A very English story with a very English heart, Calendar Girls is quirky, poignant and hilarious. Adapted by Tim Firth from the Miramax film of the same name, it is based on uplifting, inspiring true events.

Our Review:

21 April 2009

Last year’s Chichester Festival stage version of the plucky Brit flick about the ladies of a West Yorkshire Women’s Institute doing their own “Pirelli calendar” to raise money for leukaemia research has been a sell-out success on tour and has opened in the West End to a record-breaking advance.

The cast come bellowing on to the stage - why are they shouting at us, you wonder? - being outspoken and cheeky, exhaustingly full of character and bonhomie. But Hamish McColl’s production, once you’ve made a deal with the relentless coarseness of the acting, settles into a perfectly agreeable rhythm and is in fact considerably improved since last autumn.

The second act has been tightened up, the shooting of the near-nude, not naked, poses at the end of the first act has acquired a fairly decent comic momentum, Robert Jones’ colourful design is cosily reassuring, and the central stand-off between Lynda Bellingham’s attention...

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Latest User Review

Evelyn - 20 December 2009:

Don't waste your money. Most of the cast are mediocre. Kelly Brook, Arabella Weir, Janie Dee etc., although thought Rosalind Knight as Jessie was believable. None could follow Helen Mirren or Julie Walsh. The play itself didn't transfer well as it was a shadow of the original story. Very disappointing birthday treat!...

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