Nude Scene the Easy Part in Calendar Girls
In Calendar Girls, playing at Limelight Theatre (WA) during August, members of the local Women’s Institute in Yorkshire (similar to Australia’s Country Women’s Association) decide to make a nude calendar to raise funds for the local hospital after one of their husbands dies from leukaemia.
Based on a true story, Calendar Girls was originally an award-winning 2003 film with Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, before Tim Firth adapted it for the stage in 2008.
Director Robert Benson-Parry describes Calendar Girls as a modern and worthwhile play.
“It has comedy, pathos and, as a vehicle for six female leads all in the same show, it’s a combination hard to resist,” he said.
“The sub-plots and general human drama is very real – these are ordinary women but the play is anything but ordinary.
“The impact the calendar has is enormous, not only on the women appearing in it but also on the wider community.”
Involved in theatre for the past 35 years, Benson-Parry has performed extensively with Harbour, Celtic Circle and Limelight Theatres and the Perth Actors Company, most recently directing a sell-out season of Sunset Boulevard.
“With Calendar Girls, it might be assumed the nude scene would be the most difficult but it actually allows a great deal of latitude with the staging,” he said.
“The main difficulty is the enormous number of props and changing the set from the Women’s Institute hall to another location.”
Calendar Girls
August 1 to 17, 2013.
Tickets are $20 adults, $17 concession.
Book on 9571 8591 between 9am and midday, Monday to Friday, or online at www.limelighttheatre.com.
Limelight Theatre is located on Civic Drive, Wanneroo.
Image: Loz Haynes, Sue Mainwaring, Gwen Browning, Michelle Varley, Jo Brigham and Clare Fazackerley Wood are appearing in Calendar Girls.
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