Calendar Girls
★★★★☆ Poignant comedy
Church Hill Theatre: Wed 27 – Sat 30 May 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
There is real emotional weight, as well as considerable comedy, to Edinburgh People’s Theatre’s production of Calendar Girls at the Church Hill.
Tim Firth’s 2008 play is based on the screenplay by Firth and Juliette Towhidi for the 2003 film, which in turn was inspired by the true story of a group of Yorkshire Women’s Institute members who produced a nude calendar to sell at a local fair to raise money for charity. Initially the aim was to buy a new settee for the relatives’ room at the hospital where the husband of one of the women was being treated for blood cancer, but soon the whole project became an unexpected worldwide success.
Ryan Greig (Liam), Carol Bryce, Lynn Cameron, Sharon Wilson and Helen E Nix. Pic Graham Bell.
The play tends to be overshadowed by both the film and Firth and Gary Barlow’s later musical, but has merit in its own right. It’s certainly already been staged a couple of times in Edinburgh in recent years, with its large, female-focused cast an obvious attraction to non-professional companies. The combination of grit, emotion and end-of-the-pier humour is very much in the North of England tradition; fans of Victoria Wood will instantly recognise what is going on here.
EPT’s version of the play benefits greatly from Jacqueline Wheble’s intelligent and sympathetic direction. There is real togetherness to the cast, enhanced by use of extra ensemble members; this creates the feeling of an actual, large WI group as well as helping with the smoothly-executed transitions between scenes.
imaginative and extremely poignant
Throughout, the acting space – both on and off the stage – is used creatively and with real flair. The depiction of the death of John (Andy Moseley), which is the catalyst for the whole fund-raising project, is both imaginative and extremely poignant. The staging of the photo shoot for the calendar is another triumph, blending humour and invention (as well as being done in the best possible taste).
There is real drive and spark throughout the cast. Chris, the driving force behind the calendar, is played with commitment and nuance by a very impressive Carol Bryce. Her long-term friend Annie, grieving for the loss of husband John, is depicted by Lynn Cameron with stoicism and deep reserves of underlying emotion.
Frances Bain (Cora) on piano with Sharon Wilson (Celia), Helen E. Nix (Jessie), Aileen Copland, Ruth Finlay (Ruth), Lynn Cameron (Annie), Victoria Wilkinson, Bev Wright, Ellen McFadzen and Carol Bryce (Chris). Pic Graham Bell.
Celia, the frustrated golf widow and ‘trophy wife’, is ebulliently played by Sharon Wilson, while Helen E Nix’s retired teacher Jessie is humorously cynical. Frances Bain is extremely believable as Cora, frustrated church organist and mother to a rebellious daughter. Ruth Finlay plays the people-pleasing Ruth with a wonderfully-judged combination of comic timing and underlying sadness that is a feature of the whole production.
Other roles are played with that same skill, a combination of delicate realism and seaside-postcard exaggeration when required. Anne Mackenzie’s snooty WI organiser, Bev Wright’s scatty guest speaker, Ellen McFadzen’s giddy beautician, Pat Johnson’s visiting aristocrat – all are given the same care and life.
credible
Both Andy Moseley as John and Larry Weil as Chris’s husband Rod make their respective partnerships completely credible, with the depiction of Annie and John’s relationship extremely touching. Fraser Mackenzie’s photographer Lawrence and Ryan Greig’s commercial director Liam are given the right degree of comedy.
Aileen Copeland, Shona Cook and Victoria Wilson (along with some of those also playing smaller roles) provide the ensemble whose presence makes the WI meetings all the more believable. The use of just-audible, naturalistic conversations during scene-shifting rather than the expected ‘rhubarbing’ is another neat touch.
Lynn Cameron, Helen E Nix, Carol Bryce, Sharon Wilson, Fraser Mackenzie (Laurence), Ruth Finlay and Frances Bain. Pic Paul Wilson.
Wheble also provides the effective design, with the lighting of Rhona Sampson and Helen Garcia, and Peter Horsfall’s sound, being extremely slick and effective. The attention to detail the production provides has even extended to producing its own fundraising calendar on sale at the venue.
There are unavoidable issues with the shape of the drama. The second half is bound to fall a little flat. The jeopardy created by a rift between Chris and Annie never really convinces, apparently flaring up out of nothing and then being resolved even more perfunctorily. (If there was a real rift between the participants, ironically it was the dramatisation of their story in the first place that appeared to be its cause).
compelling
The play overall is still a compelling one, however, with its mixture of emotions. It is certainly done justice here by a production that is full of heart, spirit and humour.
Running time: Two hours and 20 minutes (including one interval).
Church Hill Theatre, 40 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Wednesday 27 – Saturday 30 May 2026.
Wed – Fri at 7.30 pm; Sat at 2.30 pm
Tickets and details: Book here.
EPT Website: www.ept.org.uk.
Facebook: @EdinburghPeoplesTheatre.
Instagram: @epeoplestheatre.
Andy Moseley (in wheelchair) with Lynn Cameron, Aileen Copland, Frances Bain, Larry Weil (Bob), Helen E Nix, Victoria Wilkinson and Pat Johnson (Lady Cravenshire). Pic Paul Wilson.
ENDS
