Review: Calendar Girls at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

Lesley Joseph, Sue Holderness, Ruth Madoc, Kacey Ainsworth, Deena Payne, Helen Fraser, Kathryn Rooney and Camilla Dallerup are among the actresses who star in the touching comedy.

And appearing naked on stage takes some guts, but the cast seem completely unphased when required to bare all.

Not many 67-year-old women would relish the prospect of appearing in the buff in front of a theatre full of strangers but Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph says she loves it. "It is great fun," she said before taking to stage for the opening of the show last night.

"The audience see something but it is wittily done and not blatant.

"People on stage see more and that is fine. We are all girls together and so that does not matter."

Miss Joseph added: "It is great to have six calendar girls of varying ages with fine parts for all of them.

"It is also lovely to have something that gives older women a voice. I know a lot of people say there are not enough parts for older women but I have not found that. This is a play about real people who did something quite extraordinary that took the world by storm.

"It appeals on many levels with both pathos and humour. I doubt there is anybody in the audience who has not been touched by cancer through a friend or family member suffering from the disease. It speaks to them and manages to be very funny."

Based on the true story of a group of Yorkshire ladies who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research, following the death of a pal's husband, the show is both poignant and moving and yet still a laugh out loud comedy.

It runs at the Grand until Saturday.