Calendar Girls

The Director’s Note in the programme quite rightly says that this play is much more than the usual first thought when “Calendar Girls” is mentioned: ”the one where they take off their clothes”. The fact that this extraordinary fundraising activity of creating a nude Women’s Institute (WI) Calendar is actually based on a true story makes it all the more poignant, with moments of true sadness and moments of absolute hilarity. There is a hit film and musical as well as this version, the play.

The set had bare cream coloured walls with French doors downstage right used as the external entrance to the hall when it was a Church Hall, which was the setting for many of the scenes. The front Barn doors folded in at one point to give a narrow opening for John to give his talk to the WI, and for the women to mourn him. There was a piano upstage right for much of the action, sometimes being played by Cora, used as part of the furniture and of course for the Calendar. Furniture sometimes moved on and off smoothly as part of the action in the scene which was good and other times there were significant gaps in the action while things moved. Overall the set looked extremely bare, almost as if it was unfinished: nothing on the walls, a bit blank. The photo session furniture and props were choreographed really well, creating hilarity in the audience as well as between the characters as was expected. The photographic studio lighting was a nice touch but it took some time to put out then none of it was turned on, so it had the appearance of unfinished detail. Some great use of boxes wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper added good fun to the glorious concealment. The way the women took care of each other as characters and actors in this nude photograph session was admirable.

There were some instances of using a wonderful short throw projector for backdrops for a couple of scenes. This was gorgeous and really could have been used more: the background to the Church Hall for example, or up in the Yorkshire hills. As soon as the lights came up they bled out the projection sadly but if the balance and possibly the position of the lights is considered, this could be used very effectively in future productions. Sound levels were good but there were a couple of scores used from films including the music from the film “Psycho” when Ruth burst into the photoshoot to join in, having initially turned it down. Because the scores are so well known in other scenarios and Ruth’s sudden change of heart is everything to do with her own personal journey and abandonment by her husband and not to do with being a psycho killer, it was a little jarring. They did all look like their characters: the costumes were chosen well, including the little black dresses for the commercial. There did seem to be a lot of costume changes for no apparent reason and sometimes there were gaps while the audience waited. If it was to show passage of time a different method other than costume changes could have been considered.

Opening on bizarre yoga was lovely but as soon as quick banter and dialogue started there was sadly a noticeable degree of hesitancy in delivery of the lines from some of the women, and an incongruity between the looks on their faces and the dialogue they were delivering. They gained in confidence through the play and by mid act two were in their stride which inspired confidence in the audience as well. A really thorough and fun warm up before the show could have really helped them reach this point from the start. Caroline Dernoncourt played the brazen Celia wonderfully but with her very strong natural accent it was often hard to understand her diction even though her projection was good, many of her words and therefore meaning in the lines were missed. Lisa Frazer was a wonderful Cora with cutting jibes, Christine Linden-Smith was a fabulous Jessie, ex head teacher, with that wonderful moment where she forces Laurence the photographer to recognise his old teacher, and a lovely delivery of the speech about forgotten women not beaten and not done yet. Laine Watson as Ruth had probably every woman in the audience behind her in her confrontation of the beauty therapist and some men not being able to see true beauty even if they are staring at it: wonderfully satisfying. Niki Field as the outspoken Chris and Nicki Barnett as the caring Annie, the two central chalk and cheese characters, who are still so believable as best friends; were wonderful. Balancing each other and Annie smoothing out Chris’s edges and supporting each other through the loss of Annie’s husband, they in particular had a wonderful chemistry that showed true friendship throughout, and the camaraderie between them all showed so clearly on the stage: by the end, they really looked like a group of firm friends going through everything in life together. The ensemble cast did well; the standout was Jonathan Hope as Rod: Chris’ husband whose acting presence on stage puts the whole audience at ease.

This is a wonderful play and a great opportunity for character actors and this had so very much potential, yet it seemed as if some details hadn’t yet been thought through, things weren’t quite finished, it felt a little under rehearsed. The main six characters had potential to do much more and go deeper in their character portrayals. This is a wonderful story of surpassing all expectations and of life changing moments, and is very inspiring: as are the six women who bravely took their clothes off on stage. They cannot be applauded enough, for daring to be themselves as well as the characters they are playing, in a society which scrutinises women and everything they do as well as sees physical beauty through a very narrow prism. Super well done.

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