Flowers, oranges, iced buns, knitting, Santa hats, tinsel and a very large jam pan are just some of the props needed for Calendar Girls at the Boxmoor Playhouse.
The production is well under way now – as are the ticket sales – so if you want to see how our six brave ladies get on with very little to hide their blushes, then you need to look in your diaries and then go to our website to book for this exciting production, which will be on-stage from Wednesday, March 25 to Saturday, March 28.
“It’s a very moving story,” says director, Maggie Harvey, “but it’s also very funny indeed. There are tears both on-stage and probably in the audience as well, but there are plenty of laughs and audiences tend to leave with a smile on their faces.”
And so they might, since the project has raised more than £6 million pounds to date for blood cancer research.
It all began in 1998, when John, the husband of Yorkshire WI member Angela Knowles, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Sadly, he died only five months later and after that, a light-hearted idea began to take shape for Angela and a group of Women’s Institute friends to do a Pirelli-style calendar featuring well-known WI activities like baking and gardening. This ‘alternative’ calendar, got the blessing of the Women’s Institute, the idea caught the public’s imagination and eventually more than 56,000 calendars were sold.
I’m sure you will know that a film, a play (the one we’re doing!) and a musical have resulted from this. “We’ve been in touch with Blood Cancer UK,” says Maggie. “That will be our charity for this production and we plan to have buckets around for anybody who wishes to make a donation. We may even have some small items of merchandise to sell.”
So, get booking your tickets. We hope you will find this production to be one to remember – for all the RIGHT reasons!
Theatre | HHTheatreCo | Hemel Hempstead
