Kilcullen's Calendar Girls was a sellout masterpiece
The Calendar Girls on-stage shoot for the December page
IT'S an indication of how audiences value any performance by Kilcullen Drama Group that there are regularly full houses for their productions — but their presentation of broke all pre-booking records for the group. Not only was the four-night original run sold out well before the opening night, but so also were extra nights put on for the following week.
is based on the true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for leukaemia research in 1999, after the husband of one died from cancer. The stage play was developed in 2008 as an adaption of the 2003 British comedy film based on the story, both written by screenwriter Tim Firth.
The Kilcullen group's production was directed by Eilis Philips, and by all accounts deserves to go down as one of the best ever presentations in their 90-year history. The 10-woman main cast were individually brilliant, and collectively a masterpiece of drama, pathos, comedic hilarity and gentle ribaldry.
The men in the production also played close to perfection in what were by the nature of the play relatively understated roles — apart from veteran Kilcullen actor Maurice O'Mahony whose portrayal of Liam displayed the suave impactive elegance of couturier Paul Costelloe.
Two words about the set design by Letitia Hanratty (also one of the leading ladies) and her construction team of Andrew and Andy O'Neill, and the backstage crew who managed the changes so well: just brilliant.
A special 2025 calendar produced by the group to raise funds for the Oncology Day Ward in Naas Hospital has also been so popular that a second printing was required. The photographs and design are by Niamh O'Connor, with each one of the coyly suggestive and cleverly-conceived images taken in different business premises in Kilcullen after closing times.
