Make a date

Oct 17 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

North West audiences will have the chance to see the stage version of Calendar Girls in the flesh before London’s West End.

The stage show comes to The Lowry at Salford Quays next week with an all-star cast including Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge, Sian Phillips, Gaynor Faye, Brigit Forsyth, Julia Hills and Elaine C Smith.

A group of extraordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire WI, persuade one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference!

Puzzling their husbands, mortifying their children and riding the wrath of an outraged WI, they inadvertently spark a global phenomenon. As interest in the calendar snowballs, the ladies find themselves revealing more than they’d ever planned.

Frodsham-born writer Tim Firth has adapted the screenplay of his smash hit Mirimax film for the stage. The film was released in 2003 and was an instant hit at the box office, becoming the number one grossing film in the UK on its release.

Tim’s other credits include the films Blackball and Kinky Boots and the award winning Preston Front for the BBC. His theatre credits include the plays Neville’s Island, The Safari Party, The Flint Street Nativity and the Olivier Award winning musical Our House.

Calendar Girls can be seen at The Lowry from October 20-25. Ring the box office on 0870 787 5793 or visit www.thelowry.com.