Calendar Girls gets ‘bums on seats’

Rebecca Webster bares all the details of the Loft Theatre production of Calendar Girls, which in spite of reservations succeeds in entertaining with heartwarming fellowship and determination. 

I’ll be honest, the arts of plum jam and knitting have never been my most acclaimed talents, so the W.I. ladies, of the infamous story of Calendar Girls, and I appear to have very little to agree over. Furthermore, I wasn’t much encouraged when I stumbled into the Loft Theatre to find that I was one of the few under the age of 60. Cynicisms and sarcasm aside, I have to say that the production was genuinely and utterly moving and sincere. The lovely lady on the left of me became an entertaining emotional barometer for the show. Whether through guffaws or tears, the Loft Theatre’s production was certainly both a hit and a mascara-running rollercoaster.

Most will be familiar with the box office success that was Calendar Girls (2003) starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, but the years may have allowed the ins and outs of the play to become foggy. Let me refresh your memory. Calendar Girls is the heart-warming story of a group of quite ordinary, middle-aged women from a remote region of Yorkshire who are members of their local Knapley Women’s Institute. With the tragic death of Annie Clarke’s (Mary McDonald) husband John (Rod Wilkinson) to leukaemia, her best friend Chris Harper (Rayner Wilson) invents an extraordinary idea to raise funds: posing for a discreet ‘nude’ W.I. calendar. The initially small affair, in the hope of raising money for the purchase of a comfortable sofa in the visitor’s lounge of the local hospital, dedicated to John, sparked a global phenomenon. It has since raised millions for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. However, only very recently have the rights been bought for the story to be transformed for the stage, with celebrities like Lynda Bellingham helping to raise money and awareness for the charity, the Calendar and the ladies.

This heartwarming story works well because of the sincere, comedic relationships between a group of women who have long standing connections with each other, and this sense of family was transmuted cleverly onto the stage. The tender partnership between the almost entirely female cast was delightfully funny as we watched this merry group of Dale’s woman band together against their pompous chairwoman and her visions of W.I. greatness. More importantly, the rallying together of the women was to help the stoic Annie after the death of the beloved John and the cast was able to portray bitter-sweet humour and tragedy in shockingly genuine performances.

Nowhere was their bravery tested more than the scene of the Calendar shoot! The audience was thrown into fits of giggles or had permanent smiles stretched into their eager faces, while the ladies posed for nude photos. Almost titillating, their naughty bits were coyly hidden by items of household crockery, cream buns and even gardening equipment. Holding marmalade-yielding oranges or playing a piano, the ladies of the Loft Theatre really did have to bare their all and without the slickness of a film set or West End stage, the scene was pulled off with surprising ease and professionalism. The camaraderie, still more prevalent in this scene, made sympathy for these resourceful, genuine characters inescapable heading into the second half.

While Rayner Wilson’s accurate portrayal of the ballsy, gregarious Chris was indeed impressive, it was the depiction of Jessie by Helen Ashbourne that moved me the most. Her comic timing was excellent and, despite her age, she proved to be both the matriarch of the group and also the class-clown. Her presence on stage was proud and confident, accentuating her satirical, self-deprecating quips which epitomised the attitude and dedication of the real ladies of the Dales W.I. who lived this inspiring story.

I began my review by saying that I suspected the talents of the W.I. and today’s youth might have little in common; this production proved me quite wrong. While not all of us can make the perfect Victoria Sponge, so neither can the ladies of the W.I. as Chris proves with a farcical purchase from M&S. However, this is not the message one should take from the show or the story. Instead, as the audience stood up in unanimous applause I reflected that the play’s message of the importance of friendships, determination, and a wilfulness to make-a-difference was the moral to applaud.

There’s really not a better, winning formula: women triumphing together as they attest to John’s famous line: ‘The flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire. Every stage of their growth has its own beauty, but the last phase is always the most glorious.’

Calendar Girls was a Loft Theatre production (8-18 May 2013).