Calendar Girls

At the Stanley until Feb. 26

Tickets: 604.687.1644

artsclub.com

Calendar Girls is playwright Tim Firth’s equivalent of The Full Monty. In this case, it’s a bunch of women who bare all to buy a settee for the family room in the local hospital.

The Knapely, Yorkshire County, Women’s Institute (WI) has done fundraising calendars before but, featuring “Yorkshire Churches” one year and “Yorkshire Bridges” another, they’ve never raised much in the way of pounds sterling. This year, following the death of Annie’s husband, John (Shawn Macdonald), the seven women are determined to break all records with a “flesh sells” approach—even if that flesh is pretty much fowl, not spring chicken. The settee will serve as a memorial to John.

Full of pithy one-liners (“I have never had a problem with age. Age has a problem with me,” claims straight-shooting Jessie, played by Shirley Broderick) and a hilarious photo session with strategically placed cupcakes, teapots, jars of marmalade, blossoms, golf bags and more, Calendar Girls is a crowd-pleaser of a play.

The idea for removing their bras to buy a settee is offered by flower-loving John, who, before succumbing to cancer, told the women, “The last phase of the flower is the most glorious.” True or false, the women run with it, even going against the uptight president of their organization, Marie (Colleen Winton).

As entertaining as Firth’s script is, it’s almost as much fun watching these actors having so much fun with each other. They are obviously having a gas doing this show and it’s infectious. Putting together Broderick, Winton, Anna Galvin, Jane Noble, Wendy Noel, Linda Quibell, Kerry Sandomirsky (with Husain, Macdonald, Lisa Norton and David Marr) is director Rachel Ditor’s recipe for success. The script ambles a little, takes a while to get to the good stuff (the photo session) and never quite makes it back to that hilarious high point which is well lit by Adrian Muir. But it’s funny and heart-warming—a good choice for February and a great idea for Valentine’s night out with the love of your life—as long as that significant other isn’t Rover or Fluffy.

Drew Facey’s set, the interior of a church hall, has lovely curved windows (sans stained glass) and the suggestion of gothic cathedral beams arching over like ribs of a whale. Quibell, as Cora the choir mistress, occasionally sits at a mid-stage upright grand piano from which vantage point she turns some old Anglican hymns into jazzy rhythm and blues tunes.

Predictably, the calendar sells like the proverbial hotcakes and its success raises some issues amongst the women, specifically best friends Annie (Noel) and Chris (Anna Galvin). Knapely may be a small town but it strains credulity when Ruth (Jane Noble) pulls the scarlet bikini brief belonging to make-up artist Elaine (Norton) from her pocket.

But there are lots of issues that women, especially, are sympathetic to: philandering husband’s, terminally ill spouses, runaway teenagers, disapproving friends, golf widows etcetera.

Do they buy a settee? Heck, they raise enough to build a whole new hospital wing. To see how they do it, put Calendar Girls on your calendar before February 26.

joled@telus.net