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Calendar Girls set date for West End show

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Stripping yarn: left to right, Gaynor Faye, Patricia Hodge, Si‚n Phillips, Lynda Bellingham, Elaine C Smith and Julia Hill star in the stage version of Calendar Girls

Big screen: Helen Mirren and Julie Walters in the 2003 film

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Not since the heady days of Oh! Calcutta! and Hair will there have been so much naked flesh freely on display in the West End.

But in this case, there is unlikely to be any controversy and certainly no seediness when the stage version of awardwinning film Calendar Girls arrives in London this year.

While there will be up to 12 naked women of a certain age on stage at any one point, as with the film, there will be no full frontal nudity because of a combination of strategically placed cakes, aprons, bread bins and other kitchen essentials. The 2003 film starred Helen Mirren, Julie Waters and Celia Imrie in the true story of Yorkshire Women's Institute members who stripped off to pose for a charity calendar that became a huge hit.

The play stars the equally bankable Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge and Sian Phillips in the lead roles. Tim Firth has adapted the screenplay he co-wrote for the film. Directed by Hamish McColl, one half of stage comedy act The Right Size, it opens at the Chichester Festival Theatre on 16 September and goes on a nationwide tour before reaching the West End, possibly in time for Christmas.

Co-producer David Pugh, who was behind Equus with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, said three West End theatres were bidding to host the show.

"I haven't decided which one yet - I'll probably make that decision once we have opened in Chichester," he said. "But we hope to have them there for Christmas, which is, of course, the calendar season."

Pugh has wanted to turn the story into a play since first hearing about it. He said: "I dashed up to Yorkshire, armed with bunches of flowers, to try to persuade them it would make a great play. But they told me there was at least one film on the way so I knew I had no chance. When Tim asked me if I wanted him to adapt the film for the stage I had to say yes. It is such a lovely story." Bellingham, who plays Chris Harper, Mirren's role in the film, said: "It is a fantastic script and gives the story a different dimension to the film - and it's a play that offers decent roles to women of a certain age. I think it's going to be empowering, not just for us but for the audience as well. I hope they stand up and cheer when we take our clothes off."

 

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