Story of friendship blooms on stage

THE 1977 comedy-drama Steel Magnolias is being staged by a local theatre company this spring.

Produced by Offbeat Theatre, the production tells the story of the highs and lows of friendship between six women who regularly meet at a beauty salon in the fictional town of Chinquapin in Louisiana.

Director, Michael Scobie, said the play is sure to impress, with an excellent cast and performances which honour the well-known, well-loved characters.

“We are thrilled to bring this heartwarming and powerful production to our community,” he said.

“The themes of friendship, strength, and the indomitable spirit of these women resonate deeply with all of us.

“It’s become one of those stories that’s endured because it’s really about the support that women give to each other through life, and the way that they need to hold their families together, but actually be really strong themselves.

“In fact the term ‘steel magnolias’ is really describing these people, women are ‘supposed’ to present in a certain way, but they actually need to be the ones that rule and make all the hard decisions.

“It’s a fantastic story because it really is about female empowerment, and you get to see these women on stage connecting with each other.

“Two of these people are friends of mine, they actually brought the play to me and said we’d really like to do this.

“They saw the movie at the Star [Cinema] a couple of years ago and just realised how strong it is.

“Anybody that’s familiar with the movie will know that there’s a couple of sad things that go on, but it’s really about seeing this all-female cast playing these everyday women in this little town.

“And it’s actually not terribly different to people that you might meet in Bendigo.”

Mr Scobie said he has introduced a seventh character who will sing iconic songs of the time between scenes.

Steel Magnolias became famous with the 1989 film starring Dolly Parton, Sally Field and Julia Roberts.

Offbeat Theatre’s production of Steel Magnolias will play at The Engine Room from Friday 15 September to Sunday 8 October.

Tickets can be purchased via bit.ly/3YVChnN or from the Capital Theatre’s box office.