Focus Birmingham

By Vidar Hjardeng

I think I must be one of the few people who, for some reason, never got round to seeing the film of Calendar Girls starring Julie Walters, but I did manage to get tickets to see an audio-described performance in the current sell-out tour at the Birmingham Hippodrome - in fact it has proved so popular that it is coming back to the Hippodrome for another week in the summer with a further 2 audio described performances on the afternoon and evening of Saturday 3 July. If you didn’t manage to see it this time round, then I’d certainly, as they say, book early to avoid disappointment!

The Hippodrome’s resident describing team, Jonathan Nash and Margaret Spittles, did another superb job of bringing the stage action to life, through their skilfully timed commentary, although, because so much of the play depends on the actual dialogue between the Women’s Institute ladies, the story itself is quite easy to follow. … of course if you had seen the film it would have been even easier!

The success of this production undoubtedly owes much to the writing of Tim Firth, combined with some excellent performances from the likes of Lynda Bellingham aka the wife in the Oxo advert, Letitia Dean erstwhile Sharon from Eastenders and Jan Harvey, who some of you may remember from BBC’s Howard’s Way and who had the more difficult challenge of following Julie Walters in the role of Annie – and very good she was too!

Clearly – based on a true story - dealing with the subject of terminal cancer and its effects on family and friends, the play is inevitably poignant, and its popularity no doubt owes much to fact that many people in the audience will empathise with Annie after her husband John’s death. However, perhaps contrary to expectations, it is not unmitigated doom and gloom and there are many beautiful comic moments as this local Yorkshire W I hits the headlines with their very daring, fundraising calendar as a tribute to Annie’s husband.

Fellow V I patrons and their companions were taken on the stage for the standard pre-show touch tour where Margaret and Jonathan described, what was actually, a very minimal set – a simple village hall with a piano, and rolling hills painted onto the backdrop. Even for those who missed the behind-the-scenes visit there was a brief description as part of the introductory notes, 15 minutes before curtain-up when we also reminded of cast, characters and costumes.

The next audio-described show at the Birmingham Hippodrome is the Welsh National Opera’s Puccini masterpiece, Tosca, on the evening of Friday 19 March and details on ticket prices how to book headsets and places on the touch tour, can be obtained from the box office on 0844 3385000.