Calendar Girls

First we had the film, this play followed and Gary Barlow later turned it into a musical but, as it’s based on an actual sequence of events, it all really started with the activities of a group of women anxious to raise money for their local hospital.  This in turn was prompted by the untimely death through cancer of the husband of one of them and this production has been given extra poignancy with the news that one of the team is facing a serious medical problem.  Whilst such a situation will no doubt have made some of the scenes difficult, it will also have provided the cast with an extra incentive to inspire their performances this week.

That’s not to take anything away from the encouragement they have clearly gained from Jim Bower, making his debut as director, also undertaking other work on the show and then playing the part of Rod, husband of Chris, the instigator of the calendar idea. In that latter part Janet Wilson gave a confident lead to the others whether in demonstrating how nakedness differs from nudity, giving an impassioned speech at the National Conference or even mastering the intricacies of tai chi.  Dawn Dyason’s performance as the cruelly-widowed Annie aroused the sympathies of the large audience and, indeed, all of the principals appeared ideally suited for their differing characters. Marie Clinker found several opportunities to amuse us as we learned about her character, Celia, whether it be her colourful past or current golf/gin obsessed present.  Catherine Hopkins also had her moments as we heard of her lengthy career as a schoolteacher with something less than a liking for children but who is re-united with a former pupil, Lawrence, when he turns out to be the photographer. Gavin Scott showed appropriate embarrassment in this cameo role.  Emily Grange was well cast as the rather fragile Ruth, the wife with marriage difficulties and some reservations about her appearance in the calendar until a few drinks convince her otherwise. There’s an amusing scene as she meets Elaine, the beauty therapist behind her marital problems and I enjoyed Miranda Thew’s determination to make the most of this minor role. 

Nicki Allan gave an excellent performance as Cora, the single mother who, as pianist for the W.I. meetings, opened the show by singing “Jerusalem”.  It was difficult to believe that, although she is an experienced musician, this was her acting debut. Another making his stage debut was Anthony Sargeant who had no difficulty in earning our sympathy as the ill-fated John.  I do hope that both of them will continue to entertain us in future productions.  Maureen Savage was in suitably commanding mood as the W.I. Chair, who had apparently fled from Cheshire for family reasons.  Smaller parts were nicely played by Thelma Smallwood as Lady Cravenshire, the local dignitary who fails to recognise the origin of the winning Victoria sponge and Adam Stewart, also the newly-appointed Chair of the group, as the representative of a company keen on using the ladies for a TV commercial.  Linda Young’s minor role as the speaker whose talk on the attributes of broccoli is cut short by an electrical fault will have occupied much less of her time than her work in preparing some excellent “props”.  It is not often that this area of a production gets a mention in a report but I must make an exception here as we saw some large balls of knitting, teapots and cups, various items of fruit and the infamous “rather bigger buns” to name a few of the items which took up carefully placed positions in the various photographs.  A lovely grouping for the December picture ended the first act with a colourful picture. 

Tim Firth’s script with fun at the expense of the W.I. movement, aspects of life in Yorkshire and in his native Cheshire, whilst still reminding us of its serious side, was an excellent and entertaining vehicle for the Group to move away from musicals and so to reflect their merger a few years ago with a purely drama group. As it happens, I am due to see a production of the musical version of the story in Harrogate in a few weeks’ time and it will be interesting to compare the two.                          

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