Based on the true story of eleven WI members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukaemia Research Fund, Calendar Girls opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre and has since become the fastest-selling play in British theatre history.

The story of the calendar girls swept the whole world up in 1999-2000, when their ‘nude’ photos appeared in what was then known as ‘the 2000 Alternative WI Calendar’. It was released on 12th April 1999 and became a runaway success, selling out in the first week. Calendar Girls was inspired by the death of Angela Baker’s husband John, who died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 54 in 1998. During his illness, John’s friends began to raise money, initially with the aim of purchasing a sofa for the visitors’ lounge in the hospital where John was treated. Nothing could have prepared them for the way their original calendar took off.

To date, they’ve raised over £5 million for blood cancer research.

The story is heart-warming, joyful and raw. Friendships are tested and bonds are strengthened. The whole play is about embracing all women regardless of age, ethnicity or size. A true celebration of women, by women, for everyone.