Calendar Girls At Nottingham Theatre Royal REVIEW

Photo courtesy of Nottingham Theatre Royal

It was certainly the right weather last night to get naked, or rather nude, as temperatures soared the Theatre Royal generated a steamy atmosphere of its own before any disrobing took place on stage and even Nottingham Confidential quietly peeled off a couple of items of clothing in what were some of the very few empty seats of the show's opening performance.

Calendar Girls, for anybody still actually unaware of the plot, tells the true story of a group of Yorkshire women who belong to the Women's Institute and decide to pose nude for a charity calendar. This new tour treats us to an absolutely stellar telly cast including Dorian from Birds Of A Feather plus Marlene from Only Fools And Horses plus Viv from Emmerdale plus Bodybag from Bad Girls plus Gladys from Hi-de-Hi plus Little Mo from EastEnders plus Camilla from Strictly Come Dancing all together and practically a story in themselves, bonanza!

Calendar Girls is a lovely fun show with weepy bits, the dialogue is snappy, the set design is clever and the nude photography shots are imaginatively and very entertainingly done with both discretion and great aplomb. The casting is terrific for this run and everyone gives convincing portrayals of the ups and downs of female friendships. Cheekily, not all the months were photographed (which would have made a pretty useless calendar) but that was really the only jarring point. It's upbeat charidee stuff guaranteed to cheer up your evening as confirmed by the great guffaws which accompanied last night's performance and confidentially, we definitely recommend you go along this week and get an eyeful.

Calendar Girls is at Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 9 July 2011. Full details on the website http://www.royalcentre-nottingham.co.uk/default.asp?id=837