THEATRE: Wyong Calendar Girls shed inhibitions

The play is based on the true story of a group of Women's Institute members in a Yorkshire town who decided to produce a fund-raising calendar which featured discreet photographs of themselves posing naked.

They used props including flowers, knitting, cups and saucers, pots of jam, and large buns to spare their blushes.

The calendar was intended to raise funds to buy a settee for the relatives' room at their local hospital, where the husband of one of the women was being treated for leukaemia - a battle he eventually lost. Their story became a worldwide phenomenon, with the calendar raising millions of pounds.

The show, which will be staged at Wyong Memorial Hall from August 8 to 17, is filled with humour and heart-warming and wrenching moments.

The cast includes Debbi Clarke, Kelly Humphries, Denni Prior, Denise Pastor, Ruth Jordon, Cathy DeVries, Margaret Holdom, Tiffany Duncan, Julie Bailey, Marc Calwell, Duncan Mitchell, Scott Russell and Cameron Oxley, with Howard Oxley as director.

The play is based on the 2003 film of the same name, which included Julie Walters and Helen Mirren among the calendar girls.

The female cast members have followed the lead of their characters in producing a "nude, but tasteful" calendar for 2014 to raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation Australia.

Performances are on Thursday and Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 2pm and 8pm in the two-week season. Tickets: $20 matinees, $25 evenings, and $35 for a gala night on Saturday, August 10, that will include pre-show cocktails and a performance by the Central Coast Brass Band.

Bookings can be made by phoning 1300 665 600 or visiting wyongdramagroup.com.au.

Newcastle Theatre Company will also be staging a production of Calendar Girls, from November 23 to December 7, with a November 22 charity night's proceeds also going to the Leukaemia Foundation.