Calendar Girls

I was visiting Bradford Playhouse for the first time in an official NODA capacity. Giles Atkinson is their usual NODA rep but also on this occasion, director of Calendar Girls by Juliet Towhidi and Tim Firth. We were very warmly welcomed by committee members so many thanks to them.

This is an inspiring tale which has now been adapted for screen, stage and as a musical. The Players had chosen the play version tonight. We began with a beautiful scene of the girls doing Tai Chi on a Yorkshire hillside, in a nod to the original screen version. Then we moved into the village hall to get on with the business of retelling this story.

A play with seven roles for mature actresses is always a gift to an amateur society, as parts for this ‘generation’ are rare in plays. As Lawrence later says, ‘you wait for years for a live model and then suddenly a bus load turn up.’ The cast all clearly enjoyed being given this opportunity and each character had her moment to shine. They also showed great bravery in baring all for a cause they cared about.

Tracy Mawson as Annie gave a very realistic performance throughout and her grieving was believable. Chris (Julie McGovern) finally revealed her true colours as she showed herself to be ambitious and self-seeking, leading to an energetic argument scene between these two. It was great to see her realisation of what had happened and her apology to Annie at the end.

Cora, the youngest of the group, gave a convincing performance as a guilt-ridden single mum. She struggled with any further rebellion because of the example it might show to her daughter, Ruby. Judith Morris as Jess had a good sense of comedy timing and revelled in her ‘front bottoms’ scene. Celia (Alison Lyons) really looked the part as Celia and Louise Thatcher maintained her role as the hapless Ruth very well. We were all pleased to see the worm turn when she came face-to-face with Eddie’s latest squeeze. I just wished the red knickers had been even tinier.

There was a large supporting cast. Wendy Robinson brought a good, brisk attitude to the role of Marie and Carol North doubled in the roles of Lady Cravenshire and Brenda Hulse. The two husbands were played by Gez Lyons and Nick Thatcher and poor Elaine, who arrived to do the make-up, only to be attacked by Ruth was played with a splendid innocence by Alex Peacock.

A final cheer for Cian Mawson who was excellently efficient as Liam the second AD for the TV company. Having done a bit of TV work, I know that character well, and he was spot on. But Cian also stepped up to cover the part of Lawrence, and did a great job in this role too. He was also involved in an excellent scene change completed in blues while the two actors ad libbed as they brought on the props. This worked very well. A mention for Judith Morris who carried on with a broken arm, all credit to her.

The falling letter scene is one of the highlights of the play and the use of individual spots was very effective, but at other times, some of the actors were left only half lit on the stage, especially at stage left. I don’t think the presence of the gate and rock necessarily precluded the whole stage being lit. But that’s a personal opinion. The props for the photography scene were excellent and the hillside backdrop, replaced by the sunflowers both looked great.

A splendid programme allowed us the opportunity to have our very own nude calendar to hang on the wall at home. Well done for telling this story and I do hope your retiring collection raised plenty of money for research into this ‘shitty, cheating, sly, conniving, bloody disease that cancer is.’ Thank you so much for your invitation.

 

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