Calendar Girls: Playbox Theatre delivers exactly what you want in a community theatre production

The cast of 'Calendar Girls', presented by Hamilton Playbox. Photo / Kerry Blakeney-Williams

Reviewed by CATE PRESTIDGE

Calendar Girls is packed full of good roles for women and cameo opportunities, making it a fun choice for community theatre group Hamilton Playbox.

The story is familiar, based on real-life Yorkshire Women’s Institute members who decide to make an ‘alternative’ WI calendar to raise money for leukaemia research. The calendar, a runaway success, features women doing traditional WI activities as a series of witty nudes.

We meet our main cast in the church hall as pianist and muso Cora (Janine Swainson) belts out the obligatory Jerusalem while the rest of the group wanders in. Lively Chris (Lucinda Heslin-Williams) leads a haphazard tai chi class before retiring to giggle on the bench with best friend Annie (Nicole Domett).

These two are the key anchors for the action. Retired teacher Jessie (Kerry Lucas-Candy) is witty and droll, while Celia (Courteney Wolstenholme) is bold and confident as the well-off wife trying to find her fit. Obliging, slightly put-upon Ruth (Cat Dwyer) is teased for her service to bossy branch chairwoman Marie (Liz Sheppard), and it is satisfying seeing Ruth come into her own later in the show.

As Marie serves up yet another worthy but boring guest speaker, we meet some of the supporting cast, including Annie’s husband John (Ron Dalton), whose illness is the catalyst for the fundraising.

Lucinda Heslin-Wightman plays Chris, one of the lead roles in 'Calendar Girls'. Photo / Kerry Blakeney-Williams

While the pace felt slow for much of the first act, it picked up as they got to the business of the calendar shoot. Photographer Lawrence (Hamilton Kay) was an injection of energy, and the near-capacity opening night audience showed plenty of appreciation for the women as they did their fabulous, bold reveals.

It really is something to disrobe in public, and the team managed props and sightlines carefully and naturally while the women did a wonderful job with confidence and panache - bravo!

Director Jane Barnett says she was drawn to the “comedy, pathos and reflective message” the play offers, and it definitely hits upon some of life’s big moments; loss, friendship, bucking the establishment, navigating relationships and discovering oneself.

The production values were good, with a realistic set that wasn’t too fussy in the scene changes, effective lighting and complementary sound FX.

The premise and script are very good, but some of the lead conversations and monologues were very slow, affecting the overall pace and impact, and there were occasional audibility issues. While there was naturalistic overlapping dialogue in places (Swainson, Wolstenholme and Lucas-Candy were good here), other passages needed to crack along.

Mastering accents can be very hard, and it felt like efforts to concentrate on this reduced fluency for some performers. Variations across a cast can also distract the audience and affect meaning. While some worked well, I came away feeling that focusing on just a couple of consistent key vowels across the board may have worked better.

These comments aside, this is a lovely play and there is plenty to enjoy. Best of all, the cast look to be having fun and supporting each other on stage, which is exactly what you want in a community theatre production.

The Details

What: Calendar Girls, presented by Hamilton Playbox, directed by Jane Barnett

When: Running until April 1

Where: Riverlea Theatre, Hamilton

Tickets: https://www.iticket.co.nz/venues/hamilton/riverlea-theatre