DATE 12th October 2023
SOCIETY Fatfield Musical Stage Society
VENUE Arts Centre Washington
TYPE OF PRODUCTION Play
DIRECTOR Helen Abraham
Report
Author: Gordon Richardson
Always a pleasure to visit friends at Fatfield, even more so to witness a wonderful dramatic piece as this.
The action take place in a ‘beauty shop’ owned and run by ‘Truvy’ – the set was well furnished with basins and hairdryers, and various other equipment used in such mystical places. The Arts Centre is limited in entrances and exits for performers, but this wasn’t an issue with all entrances and exits via the parlour’s front door.
The play, set as it was over two and a half years, follows the lives of six friends from the day of Shelby’s wedding which coincided with the appointment of Annelle as a trainee hairdresser.
The regulars meet up every Saturday morning for friendship as much as hair-dressing – Clairee (Janet Cooper) is the middle-aged person with time on her hands and money to spend. She was a perfect foil for ‘Ouiser’ (Lisa Leonard) a curmudgeonly lady, not a good word to say for anyone but with love and compassion in her heart for those willing to scratch the surface.
‘M’Lynn’ and ‘Shelby’ (Joanne Hudson & Aimee Irwin respectively) were perfectly scripted as mother and daughter – there was the respect they had for each other’s position in the world whilst Shelby sought to seek her independence from a mother frightened to cut the apron strings. It was a pleasure and testament to their respective acting that we saw the change in their demeanour to each other’s right of adult independence as Shelby announced to her mother her pregnancy despite the fact that her diabetes issues meant it could irreparably cause long term damage to herself.
‘Truvy’ and ‘Annelle’ developed their relationship from boss/employee to almost surrogate mother/daughter as Annelle escaped an abusive partner, into a steady relationship, finding religion and pregnant with her new husband’s child over the course of the play.
‘Truvy’ (Claire Taylor) was the consummate ‘mother figure’ / ‘best friend’ to all as she guided the fragile, nervous ‘Annelle’ (Laura Dollimore) to independent young woman.
Steel Magnolia’s is the story of a close-knit community of women in the South of USA (well done on maintaining the Southern State accents throughout) as they deal with the tragic loss of one of their own. Each person on stage had their own specific character and the audience knew each of them ‘well’ such was the empathy between cast and audience. This was ‘believable’, we laughed at the eccentricities of ‘Clairee’; we cried at the loss of ‘Shelby’ – we were their extended ‘family’; they were the family we’d have loved to have.
At the emotional finale you could see this wasn’t purely acting – this friendship of the cast was ‘real’, and a real ‘bond’ had been established.
Well done to Fatfield MSS and their director Helen Abraham for a superbly crafted and well delivered play and quite fitting to have a bucket collection for the Tyneside Kidney Patients Association as part of their charitable aims afterwards – well done.