Support sought for 2023 Calendar Girls stage production in Horsham

In the meantime, show director and company founder Stacey James is keen to hear from anyone who might be able to support the production right now in terms of either time or rehearsal space – or costumes or anything else. Get in touch on [email protected].

Stacey said: “I put together Fortress about ten years ago. Our first show was Girls’ Night Out at the Capitol Theatre, our first project, and then things went a bit quiet with the company. I joined HAODS and did quite a few shows with them and then we got together and did The Naked Truth, a pole dancing comedy, in 2018 with Fortress and we raised £1,500 for Cancer Research. And that has spurred us on to do this. We just had such a good time under the fortress umbrella.

“Fortress was formed back in the day just to put on work that was comedy versus tragedy really. I love making people laugh. Comedy is just something that I really enjoy but I really like the comedy where you cry and you laugh and you can't stop thinking about it. I've got such a lot of talented friends and I just love making work

“I've called on my friends to do this. Once we had raised £1,500 for Cancer Research it always stuck in my mind that whenever we did a Fortress show we would have a charity element to it.”

Calendar Girls The Musical will run from February 21-25 in aid of St Catherine’s Hospice, with tickets on sale now from the Capitol box office.

With music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, Calendar Girls The Musical was inspired by the 2003 film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters which was based on a true story.

The death of a much-loved husband prompts a group of ordinary women in a small Yorkshire Women's Institute to do an extraordinary thing.

Blasting away all preconceptions of what it is to be part of the WI, they decide to do an artistic nude calendar to raise money for charity.

“At least 50 per cent of all profits will go straight to St Catherine's Hospice, Crawley to support the incredible work they do”, Stacey said.

“I went to see the show a couple years ago in the West End and I fell in love with it and I said then that I really wanted to direct the show but I didn't think that it would be available quite so quickly. The music, well, I just love it.

" I saw it and I knew that one day I would do it and this just feels the right time to get Fortress back together again. I already knew the people that I wanted to have in it. It is already cast and there are 20 in the cast. It is a big jump for Fortress. We are used to doing comedy plays of about eight people.

“To put on a full scale production you're looking at raising about £30,000. If you can do it for £25,000, then great but you've got the rights. You've got the theatre costs. You've got the set. You have to pay for the materials, for the costumes, for the lighting and so on.”

But Stacey and the team have now raised enough to make the show possible: “With private funding, mostly cast members all chipping in and a few local businesses that have sponsored us, we needed about £10-15,000 up front and we have got that now and can start rehearsing.”