Dundee Rep
3 stars
In the corner of Dundee Rep’s upstairs bar, a nail emporium has opened
up shop to buff up the digits of any passing ladies in need of
sharpening their claws. Such an indulgence is the perfect pre-cursor to
Robert Harling’s so feel-good it hurts 1980s play set in blonde
bombshell Truvee Jones’ shocking pink beauty parlour in America’s Deep
South.
Not that Harling’s best-known work following its adaptation into a hit
big-screen tear-jerker starring Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton comes
out fighting in any way in Jemima Levick’s faithful, funny and at
moments quietly moving production. Quite the opposite, in fact, in what
at one time might have been referred to as ‘a woman’s play’.
from Ouiser’s back-woods coarseness to Clairee’s stateswoman-like
demeanour and all points in-between, the pan-generational sorority that
flit around Truvee’s place find comfort from each other beyond the
hair-do’s and healing treatments they’re ostensibly there for. Central
to this is golden girl Shelby’s health issues, watched over by her
mother M’Lynn and prayed for by trainee stylist Annelle.
This, then, is how the pre Sex and the City generation lived in an
unashamedly sentimental if curiously libido-free affair that is an
otherwise fully-rounded portrait of blue-collar sisterhood that goes
beyond its gaudy girls-night-out trappings.
As Shelby, Natalie Wallace never overplays her doe-eyed charm, while
there’s a worn-out pathos to Irene McDougall’s M’Lynn that’s undercut
by some well-timed comic sparring.
At over two and a half hours, all this may be more mini-series than
movie. While at times the play’s crafted sturdiness is itself is in
need of a make-over, Harling’s touching confection remains more than
skin deep.
The Herald, February 28th 2012
ends
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