Strange things are happening at the Tryon Little Theater Workshop these days as “Calendar Girls” revs up in rehearsals: Celia is dancing on her Porche, Jessie is picking a fight with a “keep left” sign, John is sharing his lethal Knapeley Kneetrembler with all comers, people are being attacked by the settee in the relatives waiting room, Rod is about to kill Marie by bashing her with gladioli, and don’t forget the burning question of whether it’s a rabbit or a ferret or a gerbil. And how did James Bond get involved in this?

 

“Calendar Girls” is based on the true story of 11 Women’s Institute members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukaemia Research Fund in the UK, originally just to replace the wretchedly uncomfortable couch in the relatives waiting room of the local hospital’s cancer wing. News of the women’s charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales.

 

Best friends Chris and Annie, their husbands Rod and John, WI’s Cora, Jessie, Celia, Ruth and Marie, plus Brenda Hulse, Lady Cravenshire, Lawrence, Elaine, and Liam — these people are definitely worth your time in the theatre.

 

As one critic put it, “The mingling of pathos and comedy here is simply unbeatable.”

 

TLT’s “Calendar Girls” plays April 28-30 and May 5-7 at 8 p.m., and May 1 and 8 at 3 p.m. at the Workshop, 516 South Trade Street, Tryon.

 

For tickets and information visit www.TLTinfo.org.

 

–Submitted by Connie Clark