REVIEW: The Power Of Female Friendship Features In STEEL MAGNOLIAS

Thursday 14th May 2026, 7pm, Theatre Royal Sydney

Set in the late 1980’s, Robert Harling’s STEEL MAGNOLIAS expresses the enduring power of the sisterhood in helping face the challenges of life.  Director Lee Lewis transports the audience to the Deep South for a dose of nostalgia for those that remember earlier stage incarnations and the 1989 film of the same name, while ensuring the underlying focus on relationships remains. 

Set in the fictional Louisiana parish of Chinquapin, big haired bubbly blonde Truvy (Mandy Bishop) runs a beauty salon out of the converted garage of her family home.  As well as being an in demand stylist, Truvy’s is also a social gathering spot for the local ladies, from young ‘bride to be’ nurse Shelby (Jessica Redmayne), her overbearing mental health counsellor mother M’Lynn (Lisa McCune), their crotchety dog lover neighbour Ouiser (Belinda Giblin), and with sports mad widow of the former Mayor Clairee (Debra Lawrance).  Added to the mix of women that have known each other for years is newcomer Annelle (Lotte Beckett), Truvy’s new assistant with a mysterious past.  Over four scenes, the audience witnesses the women share the celebrations and challenges of life and the power of intergenerational friendships. 

Anchoring the ensemble is Mandy Bishop’s Truvy and Bishop is perfectly cast as the big haired and big hearted hairdresser, the same role portrayed by Dolly Parton on film.  With a consistent southern drawl, Bishop leans into the comedy of the character with perfect timing in her delivery and a wonderfully intuitive physicality that shows how connected she is to the role.  Jessica Redmayne channels cinema Shelby Julia Roberts in energy and big smile.  She brings a bright optimism to the role while also ensuring that it is clear that she’s fed up with her mother’s fussing which further fuels her resistance the warnings that a relatively new diagnosis of type 1 diabetes will require her to take more health precautions.  She shows that beneath the pink obsession Shelby cares deeply about her fiancé and her family. 

As the more mature characters of Clairee and Ouiser, Debra Lawrance and Belinda Giblin bring a different style of comic relief to the work while also providing some fun verbal sparring.  Lawrance ensures that its clear Clairee once held a certain status in the community but is now as somewhat of a loose end as she seeks a new purpose and outlet for her energy, and money.  Giblin’s Ouiser wants to come across as antisocial and angry with the world but she ensures that a humanity sits beneath the façade.  Lotte Beckett ensures Annelle is delightfully awkward as the nervous newcomer needing work because her husband has left her without money, a car, and most of her clothes.  Even as Annelle becomes part of the community and a surrogate daughter to Truvy, Beckett keeps her as quirky and highly impressionable as she’s drawn into bible studies and home crafts that the women politely accept.  The most restrained and deliberate of the portrayals is Lisa McCune’s M’Lynn which to a degree is inline with the character but also feels like it is somewhat on brand.   

The seventh character of this production is Simone Romaniuk’s set and costume design.  Romaniuk has transformed the stage into a Truvy’s cozy and intimate garage salon with an incredible level of detail.  Papered walls in contrasting colours and patterns and pastels anchor the work in the 80’s.  ‘Contemporary’ Coordinated styling chairs and equipment caddies are positioned so that the audience views the room ‘through’ the mirror.  A comfortable couch and coffee table and side table speak to the repurposing of items to make the space more than just a beauty salon, making it welcoming for the community that drops in for a wash and set or simply a gossip and cup of coffee. 

Romaniuk’s costumes and wigs capture the era while expressing the characters and adding a degree of comedy to the work.  Along with the performances, the costumes help show the characters’ evolutions, from Clariee’s more ‘formal’ straight hair, skirt suit and court heels to shorter curls and blazer and trousers however Truvy’s costumes are the  style choices, from the peach pleated pants completed with turned up cuffs that Bishop methodically pulls down each time she stands, animal print and leggings and even a festive headdress. 

While society has changed and there may not be as many women that will stop to their local hairdresser for a wash and set, the need for community remains.  Whether it be through mothers’ groups, office communities or pastime clubs and organisations, people still need connection.  The beauty about a place like Truvy’s is that women of different generations and experiences come together to support each other.  The collective support proves to be important as weighty news not shared causes the women extra burden until their friends coax the secrets out of them and help them process together.  Social groups of similar aged people can form somewhat of an echo chamber but a group that has diversity brings in different experiences and viewpoints.

At face value, STEEL MAGNOLIAS can feel like a simple and easy expression of the friendship between six women but the heart of it is the power of the friendship and the power of women. Like the magnolia flowers that Shelby wants to adorn her wedding reception, ‘stolen’ from Ouiser’s tree, the women are ‘beautiful and delicate’ but they are also strong and can withstand more that many would imagine, and while this message and its delivery may not be 'groundbreaking', sometimes we need something simple and sweet.  STEEL MAGNOLIAS  is a lovely piece of nostalgia with a good dose of comedy while being a strong female story letting women of diferent ages be seen on stage.

www.steelmagnoliasplay.com.au

Photos: Brett Boardman

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