Calendar Girls at Leamington Loft Theatre

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THE CALENDAR Girls will be stripping off at Leamington's Loft Theatre until May 18.

The heartwarming story of the Calendar Girls is based on the true story of a group of extraordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire Women's Institute, who sparked a global phenomenon by persuading one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference.

When Annie Clarke’s husband John dies from leukaemia at an early age, her close friend Chris Harper comes up with a novel way of raising funds for the purchase of a comfortable sofa for the visitors’ lounge in the hospital where he was treated.

Why not print a calendar featuring some of the members of the Knapely branch of the WI discreetly posing nude while engaged in everyday activities such as baking and knitting. Eventually she convinces ten women to participate in the project with her, and as interest snowballs the Calendar Girls find themselves revealing more than they ever planned.

Gus MacDonald directs the Loft’s production with Rayner Wilson as Chris and Mary MacDonald as Annie, aided and abetted by a cast which includes many faces well known to Loft audiences plus others making their debuts.

Gus said: “This is a story that will make audiences laugh a lot, cry a bit, and leave the theatre feeling warm, happy and satisfied."

For tickets and further details visit www.loft-theatre.co.uk, or call between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. In addition, the box office will be open from 6.45pm to 8.30pm on Monday and Tuesday May 6 and 7, and on each performance evening.

* In an homage to the women of Rylstone & District WI – the original Calendar Girls – Ammac Design Studio in Leamington and Emmerson Press in Kenilworth have sponsored the production of a charity calendar featuring the Loft cast. With photographs by Helen Ashbourne (the Loft’s own Ms August) the calendar will be available at the theatre during the run of the show, at a cost of £6. Copies, for the same price plus P&P, can also be obtained by contacting . All profits will go to the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.

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