By Robert Harling

Steel Magnolias

With kind permission from Samuel French Ltd.

The action is set in Truvy's beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are "anybody" come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle (who is not sure whether or not she is still married), the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the town's rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, ("I'm not crazy, I've just been in a bad mood for forty years"); an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, who has a raging sweet tooth; and the local social leader, M'Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby (the prettiest girl in town), is about to marry a "good ole boy." Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, the spunky Shelby (who is a diabetic) risks pregnancy and forfeits her life. The sudden realization of their mortality affects the others, but also draws on the underlying strength—and love—which give the play, and its characters, the special quality to make them truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.

Crew

Director & Producer - Keegan Friel
Assistant Producer - Kirsty Strahan
Assistant Director - Jacqueline Hughes
Production Manager - Kevin Murphy
Wardrobe - Christopher Shearer
Stage Manager - Andy Samuel
Set Designer - John McPaul
Design Team - Gary Allan, Luke Gregory and Lori McFarlane
Stage Crew - Laura Reynolds, Gillian Park and TBC
Hair & Make-Up - Teri Crawford & JWC Make-Up Class
Casting Assistant - Lauren Mortimer
Lighting - David Gorry
Sound Engineer - Chris Osbourne
Flyer and Programme Design - Lori McFarlane

Dates:

10th - 12th March, 2011

Place:

Wallace Bennett Theatre, Arts Guild Theatre, Greenock

Time: 7.30pm

Tickets: £8.50

ON SALE NOW (click here)

Contact person:

Keegan Friel
keegan@redproductions.org.uk

CAST & CHARACTERS

Truvy

Margaret McMillan

“I once used what was meant to be a wash out dye on my hair to make it brown for a play. So when I went to wash it out, it turned a lovely stripey purple colour. So I decided to try dying it back to blonde, only for it to become a nice shade of lilac. So, I put on a headscarf and went to the chemist yet again for another two dyes to get it even semi blonde .... I think this was shortly before I tried going for a perm... The less said about that the better!!”

Annelle

Julie Hutchison

“A time when I had a bad hair day?? Every day is a bad hair day for me!!!”

Clairee

Mary McCue

“I was running late for work, and in a hurry I chose the wrong aerosol.

So, instead of “shiny, long-lasting hold”, I spent the day with my hair smelling “fresh as an Alpine Meadow (with improved pet odour elimination)”.

Shelby

Lori McFarlane

“When I was six years old my mom took me to the local beauty college. The student did a great job and cut it just below shoulder length, which I was happy with. Then her instructor came over to assess, chopped a few bits here, trimmed a few bits there... Then, satisfied that the job was done satisfactorily, she turned me around to look in the mirror. My hair was in a short bob just under my ears. I looked like a boy. My mom and I both cried.”

M’Lynn

Jacqui Templeton

“When I was six, my brother and I decided to try our hand at hairdressing. I cut his hair, apparently at the back, however, when it was my brothers turn with the scissors he cut mine at the front - a huge big triangle right out of my fringe! The unfortunate part of this story is the fact that the following day the photographer was coming to our school to take individual pictures of us, so yes I have a lovely school picture with a big chunk of hair missing from my forehead!!!”

Ouiser

Claire Scott

“When I was 13 Lady Diana Spencer got engaged to Prince Charles, and everybody wanted hair like hers. Including me. So I went to the hairdresser and asked for a Lady Di, which I duly got. I spent several miserable weeks trying to make the style look like anything other than a hairy dead jellyfish, after which I gave in and had myself a curly perm, which added insult to injury by making me look a lot like Edwina Currie.”

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