SUMMARY

‘Steel Magnolias’ by Robert Harding is a play that uses the loves, lives and losses of six women in a small town in Louisiana deep in the Southern States of America. The women are all of different ages, fortunes and temperaments, united by a feisty self-confidence, irrepressible humour, and steely fortitude in the face of life's setbacks.

This was a good production that particularly benefited from the development of the pace which mirrored the development of the main character and the results of her decision to become a mother. It would have been great to have performed such a good production in a bigger acting space and to a larger audience.

REPORT

Robert Harding’s play has been written to a deceptively high standard. It would be easy to dismiss it as a plot-less series of vignettes of everyday life of six women in a small isolated country town. The play charts the course of the lives of the six women over a period of two and a half years with four distinct scenes which convey the essence of their interwoven lives and how their different ages and temperaments gives each a different appreciation of events an life’s changing fortunes. The play shows the development of Shelby as a bride to be her marriage and the impact of her decision to have a baby. The plot is nurtured to its sad climax by the protagonists who meet at the local beauty salon for their regular treatments.

The story is delivered by a cast of six actresses all with their own stories and unique characters:

Tracy Childs very capably played the part of Turvey the warm big-hearted owner of the small-town beauticians. She was the lynch pin to the whole piece providing the location and the sociable environment which allowed the other characters to express their most intimate feelings. Turvey delivers perhaps the most famous line of the play (which is full of excellent one liners) ‘there aint no such thing as natural beauty’.

Becca Duke played the part of Annelle an innocent outsider. She developed from an easily led, shy girl into being an accepted member of the group capable of holding her own and contributing to its dynamics. During her development Annelle has chosen to follow the teachings of a local fundamentalist Christian church which is neither encouraged nor disapproved of by the group but accepted as part of her character. The part was well played by Becca who portrayed the early innocence of Annellee really well with her nervous voice.

Julia Coleman was Clariee the late Mayor's wife still one of movers and shakers of the community with an inner strength and an acerbic wit. Julia carried her character in exactly the way that I imagine she would be and with a style that fitted the role perfectly. The only draw back to Julia as Clariee was her youthful looks, obviously a testament to Turvey’s skill.

Orna Joseph gave an outstanding performance as Ouiser the town’s resident pessimist whose perpetual griping and miserable outlook actually hid a quite surprising and interesting character. Orna was the embodiment of her character and seemed to convey the totality of the characters crankiness while hiding the fact that she obviously had a strong feminine side.

The two characters who act as the main protagonists are mother and daughter M’Lynn and Shelby.M’Lynn, the devoted mother, was played by Susan Jakobsen. She gave a convincing display of emotions that ranged from concern to anger, shock, depression, love and deep sorrow, particularly in the last scene. I thought that Susan had a similar difficulty to Juila Coleman in that she looked so young for the part, another testament to Turvey. Shelby, M'Lynn's young daughter, was engagingly played by Rachel Jones. The audience was shown Shelby’s transition from a young free spirit with an almost incidental medical problem to a determined wife and mother. Shelby’s transitions were marked by Rachel with various changes in body language and most dramatically with the cutting of her hair. Both actresses conveyed the changes in their characters circumstances and convinced the audience of the physical and emotional struggles that they had to contend with.

All the actresses stayed in character through out the play, delivered their lines while managing to maintain their accents’.Mark Stannett as Director, as well as delivering the story of the play, also cleverly developed the pace of the play. It started at a slow, almost painfully slow, pace that any one who has visited the Southern States of America will instantly recognise to a well paced and emotionally charged final scene. It was obvious that considerable effort had been put in to the costume plot. The costumes were varied and appropriate to each character. The changes between the scenes were effective and were done with considerable efficiency. Shelby maintained the signature 'pink' elements of her costume throughout.

The production team of Mark and Sharron Stubbs as Producer delivered an engaging and entertaining piece of theatre. The characters were clearly defined. There was a convincing representation of the workings of a beauty salon including the hairdressing. Importantly the intimacy between the characters was shown in such away that the final scene achieved its emotional impact. Full support to the play was given by the quality and variety of the costumes. The sound effects were spot on with the dog's barking, the gun fire and the radio. The lighting plot although simple was exactly what was needed for the story and the set was very effective in supporting the story.

A good evening’s entertainment thank you.