Steel Magnolias

The setting for this play is Truvy’s Beauty Parlour in the small town of Chinquapin, Louisiana, U.S.A. and full marks must go the Stage Manager Shaun Donald and his stage crew for building and creating such a realistic set. In over 30 years of participating and watching shows I can honestly say this was the best set I have ever seen. As you can imagine a great deal of gossip takes place with all the ladies in the salon which includes several cracking one liners which had the audience in fits of laughter, but as we moved into the second act there was lots of heartache and tears where we witnessed a very subdued Shelby as she became more and more frail and sadly died. I could hear the audience sobbing all around me. (I must say I did have a slight tear in my eye also).

Venessa Turpin as Truvy was the lynchpin throughout, a fantastic southern accent, Her delivery was delightful and she looked so comfortable with the difficult script even during the convincing hairdressing routines. An excellent performance.

Rose Marian Finn as Clairee a middle aged person with time on her hands and money to spend was so entertaining with her one liners and comedy timing, the part where she said hit her to Quiser had the audience laughing out loud. A humorous and very enjoyable performance.

Shelby played by Cheyenne Raell was very determined and prepared to endanger her health as the price of motherhood. I could not believe this was Cheye’s very first time on stage, a great performance and with so much confidence.

M’Lynn played by Hayley Hodgson portrayed this character whose personal thoughts and deep worries about Shelby were kept in strict control beneath a calm and jokey exterior. An excellent performance especially in the second act when emotions gave way to a tearful tirade of grief. Beautifully acted and heartbreakingly sad.

Sarah Blaney caused a change in atmosphere in the story as she gave a strong performance as Quiser, delivering her lines with so much humour and kept the laughs coming along with her friend Clairee.

Emily Bartrum as Annelle set of as a nervous apprentice to a sensible young lady, the change in character was very well done. Emily showed that when being in the background with no dialogue you can make yourself look busy which to the audience looked realistic.

Another great show directed by Maria Morton, to have 3 of your six characters doing their first play shows why she is such a popular choice to direct, the attention to detail on stage was of the highest level, all of the accents were very good. This must have been a very hard play to do but once again you nailed it.

Lighting and sound operator George Cudworth done a great job with all the cues on time and playing some great music in the blackouts. I must give a huge shout out to Rob Ward who set up all the lighting especially the lights outside the door and window which looked so good as this gives the audience a belief there was a street outside the shop.

Well done to everyone you really put on a great show, all your hard work paid off.

Jim Morgan

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