The founders of Celebrities in Marbella, Hannah Murray and PJ Lopez, are both lovers of the theatre, with Hannah also being a keen member of the Del Sol Singers choir.
Some of you may recognise the name Hannah Murray as she is a presenter on Talk Radio Europe. She presented the breakfast show ‘Wake Up with Hannah’ for nine years and is now back to an afternoon slot with ‘TRE in the Afternoon’. She is also part of the lineup for the TV show Good Morning Spain, a new English speaking weekly lifestyle show which goes out across Andalucia on channel 7 Andalucia.
Having studied performing arts at college as a young adult, it is no wonder that Hannah has thrived in the public facing media and entertainment industry.
Both PJ and Hannah also enjoy performing on stage and are part of the popular amateur theatre group, International Theatre Studio who have been entertaining local audiences since 1975 with regular plays and play readings every year.
Earlier in the year the well respected and much loved theatre director Peter Brooks put forward an idea to the board to reproduce a play that he had done for another popular theatre group back in 2012. It would certainly be one of the most ambitious projects ITS had undertaken, and the board were sold on the idea.
With an on-stage cast of 14, and a large off stage contingent, it was to be performed on a stage no more than 6 metres wide. It was going to be a challenge, but hats off to EVERYONE involved, as it was a huge success.
Calendar Girls, based on the motion picture by Juliette Towhidi and Tim Firth was performed by ITS at the TRH Paraiso Hotel over four nights in October. As soon as the tickets went on sale there was an unprecedented demand, and with two weeks to go before curtain up, all tickets had sold out and there was a waiting list created.
After intense rehearsals the play opened on Thursday 5 October and ran until Sunday 8. Each night saw around 100 people attend, who were taken on an emotional journey with tears and laughter throughout (both on and off stage!). Each night saw a standing ovation as the performers took their bow, with the entire run being a great success.
There has been some amazing feedback from audience members congratulating Peter and his cast for an incredible and very professional portrayal of such a difficult subject that has affected virtually every audience member in one way or another. The staging and set were perfect, and the famous photography scene was pretty much genius!
The cast comprised of a mixture of seasoned actors and actresses, some with less experience and some debutants (not that you would have known). All cast members worked extremely hard to get into their characters and that was seen during each performance.
For those of you not familiar with the film or play, it is a true story about a group of ladies who are part of the WI (Women’s Institute) in Yorkshire. One of the ladies Annie is married to John who dies of leukaemia.
Annie and her best friend Chris talk about how uncomfortable the sofa was in the waiting room in the cancer wing of Skipton Hospital, so decide to dedicate their next WI charity calendar to raising funds for a new one. Instead of the usual local bridges or churches they realise that ‘flesh’ sells and convince the WI to allow them to do a tasteful ‘alternative’ calendar (nude).
Needless to say, the calendar sales way surpassed the cost of a sofa and it became an international success.
ITS CAST OF CALENDAR GIRLS:
Annie: Paloma Salgado (Miss February)
Chris: Hannah Murray (Miss October)
John: Paul Baker
Jessie: Fiona Poole (Miss July)
Ruth: Shelia Mellor (Miss November)
Cora: Sue Hall (Miss January)
Celia: Eleanor Schuman (Miss September)
Rod: Laurence Passman
Marie: Kate Jackson
Lawrence: PJ Lopez
Brenda Hulse: Samantha Weaver
Lady Cravenshire: Joan Foster
Elaine: Rachel Garrod
Liam: Russel Hood
A huge well done to International Theatre Studio; Peter Brooks the Director, Martin Curd the Producer, the entire cast, the backstage crew (Delia, Janet, Veronica and Andrew), the set builders (Karl and Caroline) and of course to each and every one of the audience members who came to support the show so enthusiastically.
If you are a lover of theatre, please make sure you subscribe to the newsletter at https://internationaltheatrestudio.org/
Next up, Miles Rendle will be leading a play reading and supper evening on Wednesday 15 November 2023 at the Atalaya Golf and Country Club. They will be meeting at 6.30 pm for a 7pm start. Please book your tickets on we website.
Photo by Alan Jones https://alanjonesphotography.eu