Earlier this week Owen and I saw ladies in the nip on stage - oh yes, real t & a! I hasten to add it was all done in the best POSSIBLE taste... sadly.

Tim Firth's stage version of his CALENDAR GIRLS film script coasted into the Noel Coward Theatre with a huge box office advance after a hugely successful regional tour. It opened in Chichester last year and both there and in the west end it has been greeted with lukewarm reviews but if the audience on Tuesday was anything to go by, it is obviously critic-proof.

Owen said it reminded him of those cosy, Yorkshire-set TV shows that play around 8pm on Sundays - group of lovable stock characters, little dramas sorted each week with a cup of tea and a sponge finger, cosy, safe. It reminded me of STEPPING OUT which surely we are due a revival of soon although maybe it has been toured to death. A group of disparate women meet each week in a church hall for a common cause and in the process of a big endeavour, learn about each other and themselves.I had been looking forward to seeing this as it co-stars three favourite actresses - Patricia Hodge, Sian Phillips and Julia Hills - but despite valiant playing by most of the cast, I found the whole enterprise hampered by a script which was both pedestrian and predictable.

The fine cast were given roles that were mere cyphers - moist-eyed widow, warm-hearted go-getter, flirty younger woman, bossy humourless organiser, game old dear, ribald single mother... it's slightly sad that in seeking to celebrate women who were happy to show their individuality that their story is reduced to such stock characters and plot devices.

I felt sorry for actresses of the calibre of Phillips, Hills and Brigit Forsyth having to wrestle any life into their two-dimensional roles on one of the cheapest sets I have ever seen on a west end stage. I know it's been touring but for Christ's sake a re-design for the west end wouldn't have gone amiss.
For all it's faults director Hamish MacColl moved the plot along at a good rate and the staging of the famous calendar shoot just before the interval builds up a momentum and is enjoyable until the obvious pay-off of the bossy WI organiser arriving with the lady of the manor. However this robs the second half of any momentum at all.

There were occasional moments when the production showed a sliver of humanity amidst the sitcom - there is a nice moment when the WI women are literally showered with letters from people who have been affected by their story and the final few scenes have an undeniable poignancy - it's just a pity that these are mostly submerged by the relentless cosiness and punchlines that raise a smile at best.

The production gives one the rare opportunity to say that the men's roles were totally thankless - sadly they were played as such. The character of John, the husband whose death galvanised the women into action, was sketched so perfunctorily by Firth and played so anonymously by the actor that it's hard to believe he could be the spur for any action.

That said I did enjoy seeing such a wealth of talent on the stage at one time, in particular Sian Phillips grabbing any laugh going as Jessie the oldest of the models, Julia Hills as Ruth and Patricia Hodge giving a thoughtful and muted performance as Annie the widow. For me however the star of the show was Elaine C. Smith who effortlessly stole the show as the loud and caustic Cora.

With a cast change imminent featuring Jerry Hall, June Brown, Anita Dobson and several other TV names, I suspect we could see this CALENDAR being reprinted for some time.