Steel Magnolias soon to grace Fountain Theatre

The ladies in the salon are all attention as Clairee (Sue Giddens) questions M'Lynn (Kirsten Selfe) about her daughter Shelby (Tania MacKay).

This time next month the Dannevirke Theatre Company will present Steel Magnolias in the Fountain Theatre.

This play was written by Robert Harling and is based on the true experiences of his sister and family. It is set in a hair and beauty salon of the 1980s in Louisiana, USA. At the heart of the play is the relationship between M'Lynn and her daughter Shelby who has diabetes and the journey this takes them on with their dearest friends in the salon.

There is real humour with some marvellously funny lines describing local aspects of life and behaviour like the pronouncement "Ok the secret's out. I'm having an affair with a Mercedes Benz," and "Were they High? I'll say! They'd been smoking everything but their shoes."

It has pathos, however, being described by one reviewer as "the funniest play to make you cry." Steel Magnolias gets its name because the six female characters are true Southern belles, flowery on the outside and tough as steel on the inside.

It has alternatively hilarious and touching dialogue, sharp and funny with all roles interesting and challenging in a Southern accent.

Director Davina Graham says she watched the original performance of the show in Dannevirke in 1997, directed then by Annette Kendall, and saw the movie three years ago daring to think it could be done again in Dannevirke. She said she was torn between wanting to act in it or to have her first crack at directing.

She said, "In the end directing won out as I felt passionate about bringing the whole play to life, not just one character."

Rehearsals began in February with the show set for May but both were halted by the lockdown. Rehearsals resumed in June, with Esther Cable no longer available but Josie Robertson taking her place, to join Tania MacKay, Kirsten Selfe, Sue Giddens, Michelle Walker and Lucy Mavin – ladies with decades of stage experience.

Davina says Les Giddens and Melanie Silver have done a brilliant job of bringing her vision of the set alive helped by sourcing valuable 80's props like hairdryers, books about Princess Diana, music of the time and a special painting of magnolias painted by Davina's mum Pauline. Pawson saying "it felt like a sign or seal of approval from her mum now in the depths of dementia".

Tickets are now available from the Dannevirke Information Centre. If you purchase a ticket before July 24 you are in the draw for an early bird special of a Hair and Beauty basket containing amazing products and vouchers kindly donated by all the local hair salons and Dannevirke Pharmacy.

Tickets cost $25/adult, $22.50 for students and seniors. The season runs from August 13 to August 22, which is a matinee.

Just as Ladies Night was not just for the ladies, so Steel Magnolias is similarly suited also for males. It promises to be a good night out.