Rugby's Five Star Theatre ‘dares to bare’ Gary Barlow’s hit-musical for bowel cancer

Let's hear it for the girls...Picture: Shane Kenny-Costello

Gary Barlow’s highly-acclaimed hit musical Calendar Girls is coming to Rugby.

Rugby-based production company, Five Star Theatre, is staging the show next month at the Benn Hall.

Not only does this show form part of the company’s 15th anniversary programme; it’s also a tribute to Bowel Cancer UK who supported choreographer, Kerstin Awang, when she was diagnosed in December 2019.

Kerstin Awang. Picture: Shane Kenny-Costello

Kerstin is making her stage debut in the show.

Kerstin said: “When the opportunity to produce Calendar Girls became a reality, I couldn’t have been happier. I knew it would be a very

emotive show which would hit very close to home personally, but it was an opportunity not to be missed.

"Almost everyone is affected by cancer either directly or indirectly and here was an unmissable opportunity to combine this incredible production with my ongoing fundraising endeavours and to keep awareness of bowel cancer in the public eye.

The musical is based on a true story, which was adapted into a film in 2003. Based in the Yorkshire village of Knapely, it follows a group of women whose lives are shattered when Annie’s husband, John, dies from cancer at an early age.

Kerstin added: “I am very proud of what we are achieving with Calendar Girls and it’s going to be a beautiful, not-to-be missed production.”

It runs from Thursday, June 8-10 at the Benn Hall, Rugby. Tickets, priced from £16 to £18, can be purchased online at www.bennhall.com or (01788) 533719.