Calendar Girls

It was fantastic to see so many people queueing up outside Bacup Royal Court Theatre to see their production of Calendar Girls, it was even more exciting to hear that they had one of the original Calendar Girls, Tricia Stewart, (she was famously portrayed by Dame Helen Mirren in the 2003 film - now that is certainly something that you would drop into conversation at your local W.I. meeting) attending their performance. 

We entered the theatre to an open stage. The fixed set itself was visually stunning, there was an incredible amount of detail everywhere you looked, wooden panelling on the lower half of the walls, flags and pictures on the upper half of the wall, a large simple cross on another wall, a lecturn, a table, a coat rack, a piano placed off to one side. Some very large single sunflowers had been placed intermittently on the outer edges of the stage - I understand why they were there, but personally, I wonder if they might have made more of an impact had they appeared later in the show? A projection screen rolled up could just be seen above the stage , there were two separate working doorways for different entrances and exits in the scenes.  The sound throughout was very good with no gremlins and all sound cues were hit on time. The lighting plot was fairly generic and sympathetic to the scenes unfolding. I particularly like the way this society cleverly  lights half of the stage only to make the scene more intimate and give it more impact . The props were very eyecatching and spectacular - personally I have never seen such large buns! The cast handled all the props well with grace and aplomb. The costumes are quite simple in that this play can be set in this time, so the casts own clothes can be utilised too - hair and make up all looked "normal" and in keeping under the lights. 

Gina Cole as Chris kept up some superb energy throughout the show. Her accent was strong yet clear and not too broad, diction and projection were good. She controlled the pace of the production beautifully, her chemistry onstage with Annie (Dawn Rowe) was very evident. Both of these ladies are no strangers to the stage and they both used body language and a lot of varied facial expressions to go along with their actions to often portray the thoughts going through their characters heads. It was interesting to see Annie played with such obvious fiestiness against Chris`s hubris but from these two ladies it worked because they both also managed to elequently show both characters softer side too. Helena Rose as downtrodden Ruth gave a solid and believable performance. Her comedy timing was spot on and her facial expressions were excellent - the audiences raucous laughter was evidence of this. Janice Purslow as the stalwart Jessie gave a lovely spirited performance, diction and projection were good, connection with the audience was nice, her chemistry with the other cast members was very evident andshe had some great one liners that were delivered with good timing. Rebecca Ashworth as Celia and Sara Smallman as Cora completed the little band of sunflower ladies, they both had a confident air on the stage and delivered their dialogue clearly. Liz Wood as bossy Marie delivered a fabulous, full bodied performance, every little eye twitch and eyebrow raise was perfection and perfectly thought out. Niel Gioia played Rod, his portrayal allowed us to experience Chris`s softer side, his diction and projection were good, he used his stage space well . Ruth Whittaker played three very different characters - Lady Cravenshire, Brenda Hulse and Elaine. She used three different accents and was extremely funny in her delivery, her comedy timing was spot on. I will be watching to hopefully see her in future productions. 

Stephen Woods as Director had a solid cast to work with, they all brought something special within their characters to the stage, his direction obviously gave them confidence as there were no nerves on show - just buns! When it came to the photo shoot, the projection screen was used to reveal the calendar shot to the audience. The audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was very obvious how much love and support there is for this particular show and the way Bacup Royal Court Theatre had presented and performed it. I enjoyed the performance and look forward to seeing you all again soon . 

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