I feel the need to write two different reviews and that's a bit of a dilemma. I have always found this (real life) story really touching, I was deeply moved when it happened and cried at the film - this really is a trully moving tale even after the necessary fictions required by film and stage adaptations have been laid (albeit sympathetically) on top of it.
There can be few people who don't now know the story of the tragic death from cancer of a man whose wife was in the WI and whose WI friends rallied round to raise money for a new comfy sofa in the relatives room at the hospital. Their plan, to create a nude calendar (in which nothing actually showed) raised the money alright and went on to raie over £3million to date selling in excess of 88,000 calendars, spawning a play and a very successful film and changing the world's attitude to the WI in the process. What they did also helped many women, around the world, who had suffered the same or similar loss or who simply thought they were too old to be interesting! If it hadn't been real no one could have invented it so well ...
Tim Frith's script veers mostly towards the comedy of the situation which allows the real messages to come through without making the show maudlin. In fact this is a very uplifting show which clearly touches a lot of hearts in many ways and to which audiences really do warm and respond. The tradition of the stage show is that the ladies are played by "famous people" which supposedly adds an extra dimension to their disrobing (move along ... nothing is seen here) ....
Well, that's the background, and you could well say I'm a fan, but I have to say that theatrically last night was the quite possibly worst night of theatre I have seen in many a long year ... amateur or professional. From the first I knoew it was going to be a tricky one, shouting had replaced projection, lines and entrances were pretty insecure at times, blocking was dire and I relly, really thought we'd seen the end of the old theatrical style of "I'm speaking so I must face the audience even if everyone I'm talking to will then be behind me" ... and as for dropping the odd smile or wink to audience ... I felt nothing for the journey or the characters as the acting simply got in the way!
I like stories and this is a superb story, I like stageplays and this does a good job, but I also love theatre and this was bad theatre ... sorry, I personally believe that the average WI drama group could have done a considerably better job.
Shame ...
