Calendar Girls is back again
FOLLOWING its two sell-out weeks at The Lowry – and an MEN Theatre Award nomination for one of its stars, Lynda Bellingham – both Lynda and the record-breaking show Calendar Girls return to the Salford venue on February 9, 2010.
Lynda stars again as Chris, the character played by Helen Mirren in the popular film, also written by Warrington-born Tim Firth.
But this time she’s bringing a brand new set of Calendar Girls with her including Gemma Atkinson, Judith Barker, Hannah Waterman, Letitia Dean and Jan Harvey in what has become the fastest selling tour ever and has triumphed in the West End.
The show also features Kathryn Rooney and Lynda’s own son, Michael Peluso, making his stage debut as the photographer.
Calendar Girls tells the real-life story of the members of a Yorkshire chapter of the Women’s Institute who decide to pose nude for a charity calendar after the death from cancer of one of their husbands.
But when the ladies of Rylstone and District WI bared all, little did they know that they would spark a global phenomenon.
Lynda thinks one of the reasons the show, based on the 2003 film, has struck such a chord with audiences is because ‘it celebrates the good side of human nature’.
“In the play there is that wonderful juxtaposition between the tragedy of John’s death and the laughter which is produced by the womens’ attempts to do something to mark it,” she said.
“The original WI ladies didn’t pose because they looked sexy, they did it because they were brave.
'Eye-opener'
“They did it to raise money and to celebrate life. It’s very empowering, not just for us but for the audience as well.
“People tell us that they have laughed and they have cried in equal measure,” she observes.
Firth agrees that ‘one of the play’s arguments is that women who have been put out to grass are also potent, powerful, sexual beings’ but concedes that he has been ‘absolutely amazed’ by the warmth of the audience response to the play.
“I suppose that it’s a hopeful piece in uncertain times and there’s a real feel-good atmosphere during the performance.
“The cast tell me that they can often hear crying so the audience is experiencing both poles on the emotional spectrum.”
He says he had been mulling over revisiting the story for some time. It eventually premiered in 2008, five years after the film.
“I always promised myself that I’d start to think about a stage play of Calendar Girls once the film had been shown on television a couple of times.”
“I saw that turning Calendar Girls into a stage play would enable me to help certain parts of the story to flower.”
Including – and somewhat unexpectedly – the calendar photo-shooting scene, which finds the genuinely naked actresses relying on some strategic props to preserve their modesty.
“It’s been a real eye-opener,” he chortles.
“A scene we thought would last two minutes has in practice turned out to run for 10 minutes!”
Calendar Girls is at The Lowry from February 9 to 20, 2010.
Published: Fri, 05 February, 2010
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