Calendar Girls by Tim Firth is paradoxically heart-wrenching and outrageously funny. This particular production hosting a pretty diverse array of talent off the telly: Elizabeth Bennett, Anne Charleston, Gemma Craven, Letitia Dean, Charlie Dimmock, Sue Holderness and Hannah Waterman make up the quirky cast.
This is the story of the original Calendar Girls - a group of mature women who got together in their local Women’s Institute and decided to raise money for Leukemia by posing in their fleshy birthday suits for a calendar. The stage version of this story is irreverent and bawdy, but beneath the often silly banter is a story of love, friendship and triumph over death. Yes, they do actually shed some clothes on stage. All of them are topless at least once e, but body parts are well hidden by things like giant cakes, large flowers, and big bowls of fruit. Their bravery is awesome in the truest sense of the word, and their beauty within that courage striking.
The cast clearly gets along and it is easy to wonder if some of the laughter is less rehearsed and more spontaneous. And although one actress was getting over the flu, her singing voice stayed strong, although her speaking sounded somewhat raspy and forced at times.
The scenery is simple - backdrops that rise and fall quickly and easily, most of the show takes place inside the simple, hodge-podge furniture of the WI. Outside, they stand on a simple tilted plank with a flat screen of rolling hills behind them.
This simplicity only underscores the bottom line: these are “normal” women, in a normal village, who take on an extraordinary idea in order to help defeat a monumental disease. A story of their friendship amongst women, united by a common cause.
These women need one another to lean on when things are rough and it is through each other and their place at the WI they find the courage to keep moving forward through life. And even when the closest of the friends begin to fall apart after the enormous success of the calendar, by the end of the story it is clear that friendship triumphs all hardship, all death, all success.
A heart warming story, full of laughter and with more than a tear or two. If you want a show with heart, with unusual actresses and a beautiful theme, don’t miss it.
Calendar Girls plays at the Theatre Royal from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 June 2010.
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