Reviewed by Jordan D'Arcy
Steel Magnolias is a classic play, written by Robert Harling, about six women who catch up each day by visiting the local salon owned by one of their own, Truvy Jones. It’s a very slice-of-life piece and jumps months at a time between scenes to progress the plot.
Director Lynne Devenish has done a wonderful job of assembling a really coherent and smooth production. Steel Magnolias is set in a small Southern American country town, and Lynne’s cast pulled off the task of committing to the Southern drawl with consistency.
Lea McCall as Truvy had an engaging stage presence and was every bit the wise, if somewhat simple at times, salon owner. Kylie Calwell as Ouiser was an audience favourite, with excellent comedic timing. Heather Marshall was sweet as Clairee. Sally Forbes and Grainne Kennedy, as M’Lynn and Shelby respectively, created a believable mother-and-daughter dynamic. Both had significant heavy plot points revolving around their characters and skilfully handled the deeply emotive scenes they were tasked with. Allison Sermon was a beautiful contrast to the rest of the cast with her portrayal of the soft and naïve Annelle.
Acting while you’re speaking is one thing, but remembering to stay in character whilst you’re not directly engaged in the dialogue is another. One thing this cast did really well is that they often had significant portions of scenes where they were listening to the salon goings on and not contributing dialogue but still totally engaged in what was happening, which had me feeling like I was there with them in the room.
The costumes (a group effort by Carly Ranger, Maggie Adams, and the cast) overall were excellent. There were a couple of clothing pieces that blended into the set and made the actors hard to see for that scene, but otherwise, costumes and hair were very good. In particular, the 80s-style hairdos that are important to this show particularly were done excellently.
As the self-appointed hair-tie-on-wrists police, I have noticed of late that many actors are forgetting to take their smartwatches off when they get into costume – this is particularly grating in shows that are very obviously set in a specific period (before these sorts of watches existed). Unfortunately, this was one of those instances where it was very noticeable.
The set was beautiful – very clearly a hair salon, very clearly 1980s. There were a couple of instances where set and/or props felt underused. An example is the mirror on the wall at the haircut station, which was only used maybe twice, as the rest of the time the fourth wall was used as the mirror.
The pacing of this show was generally very good – plays can be very hard to ascertain the right speed for when you’re rehearsing. The only thing that felt slow was the transitions between scenes. There were only two scenes per act, but each transition was about 3 minutes long, and the curtain fully came down, with the lights partially coming up. I understand that there were significant hair and costume changes taking place in these transitions, but from the audience, there was a lot of chatter about whether it was intermission or if the play itself was over. Unfortunately, this resulted in the breaking of the suspension of disbelief, which is a disservice to the actors on stage. Perhaps if there had been music over the top of these transitions they may have felt shorter.
Ultimately though, Steel Magnolias was an enjoyable production, and the team should be proud of themselves. It is definitely one of the best productions I’ve seen on the Garrick stage.
Reviewer Note: Jordan has previously directed and performed at Garrick Theatre. Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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