Review of Loft Theatre Company production of Steel Magnolias (2014)

How easily this play could fall victim to sentimental wallowing.

If such were the case, the blame would not lie with the writer who created it with almost loving care. It would be the fault of a production that treated it merely as superficial soapy melodrama.

Thankfully, director Gus MacDonald has skilfully sidestepped all such traps and here delivers a shining theatrical gem.

In a superbly designed hair-and-beauty salon setting, which even recognises the changing seasons, the daily lives of a group of women are played out in a beguiling mix of humour, pathos and formidable female bonding. This is so naturally achieved that for a brief opening spell the dialogue actually invokes the tedium of small-town routine, in a totally realistic sense. But once relationships are established and we get to know the highs and lows of the characters, the essence of pure drama takes hold.

It is epitomised in the sometimes tetchy closeness between the brisk and over-bright Shelby and her protective mother M’Lynn, both seeking in their own ways to conquer fears for the future. Natasha Scott-Morgan plays Shelby with a fine warmth and sensitivity, spotlighting a young woman whose way of dealing with her own failing health becomes a source of inspiration to the women around her.

Mary MacDonald as M’Lynn delivers another acting master-class in the art of subtle under-playing, creating a parent struggling unsuccessfully to suppress her maternal instincts to swamp her ailing daughter with anguished affection. Her eventual emotional outburst is all the more devastating after her earlier enforced restraint.

In contrast, the women around these two are enabled to play up their characters and do so to lively effect. Kathy Evans and Charlotte Brooks maximise their comedy moments but what is so notable is the all-round team effort which is achieved with hardly a weak link.

For once, fears of the folly of attempting southern US accents in a local Midlands theatre are allayed by excellent vocalising. And even if Steel Magnolias does not sit among the top list of American stage titles, a performance of this quality demands to be seen.

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Peter McGarry is an experienced, independent professional theatre critic who has agreed to review Loft Theatre Company productions.

The agreement with the Loft is that Peter is free to express his opinions for good or ill. The Loft Theatre Company has no control whatsoever over the content of these reviews and will never comment publicly on what he writes.