Going, going . . . and hair all gone
Actor gets into role with close shave
Amdram’s latest production, Calendar Girls, directed by Helen Watson, is based on the movie Calendar Girls, and the true story of a group of women from Rylstone Women’s Institute, North Yorkshire, who posed “nude” in a calendar to raise money for a settee.
John Baker died of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 1998 at age 54 and was the main inspiration behind the calendar.
His wife Angela spent many hours sitting on a badly sprung, old settee in the relatives’ room at Skipton General and after John’s death, she and her friend, Tricia Stewart, decided to raise money for a new settee.
The original calendar featured 11 women, each taking a month and posing together for December. They sold over 88,000 copies. In over 20 years the Alternative WI calendar has raised over £6 million ($12.2 million) for leukaemia research.
Geoff Campbell plays John Clarke (John Baker), alongside Jacqui Hughes as his wife, Annie. We are very fortunate to have a fabulous cast to work with, both newbies to our theatre and some returning.
Geoff is no stranger to Amdram both on and off stage and goes all out for his characters. Unfortunately, he only gets to play part of the first act.
So, off with his hair! To get into character we had a ‘shaving’ before rehearsals and let a few cast members loose on him with a razor. Terry Lobb (assistant director) was the first to shave Geoff’s head, for a previous show he was in.
Terry was first up this time, alongside Jacqui Hughes, Rosie Rendell, and Erika Crombie, fellow calendar girls. And to complete the look, his eyebrows came off as well.
This is a very funny, moving play that will have you in fits of laughter and maybe tears. So don’t miss this show as tickets are selling fast. Tickets are purchased through iSite Whanganui or iTicket ticketing.