American writer Robert Harling’s hit movie and play of Steel Magnolias is a tour de force for female actors, and this 2026 production that has just opened at Sydney’s Theatre Royal is no exception.
With a cast of six of Australia’s finest actors, the play takes us back to the technicolour eighties, where fluro colours and big hair ruled, as do the friendships and travails of the group of women who regularly gather at Truvy’s beauty salon to share their lives. The play differs from the film version in that it excludes the male characters, who are only referred to in conversation.
Set in Louisiana, outside Truvy’s the catfish are jumping, and the air redolent with the smell of magnolias, the flowering tree often associated with the South. Inside the salon we slowly get to know the women who work there and those who attend for regular beauty maintenance.
More Southern gossip than Southern gothic, the banter of the characters take in everything from former and current beaus, the local lunatic shooting up the town, a smatter of snide remarks between each other, and above all, as time passes we slowly sense a tight bond between the woman.
Mandy Bishop as Truvy employs a new stylist, Annelle (Lotte Beckett), who attends to the hair of the young Shelby (Jessica Redmayne), who is due to be married the next day.
Shelby also happens to be the daughter of mental health counsellor M’Lynn (Lisa McCune), and they bicker about the wedding preparations. It also transpires that Shelby has Type 1 diabetes and is warned that she cannot have children. They are joined by Clairee (Debra Lawrence), a widow, and Ouiser (Belinda Giblin), the town grouch.
Based on writer Harling’s real life family, where a sister died from diabetic complications, this tragi-comedy follows the women through Shelby’s pregnancy and its eventual denouement.
Opening with Truvy in her salon, the actors are introduced onto the stage in a naturalistic manner where we get a sense of their characters, until the entire cast is introduced to the audience. This is a true ensemble effort, with everyone bringing their best game to the show.
The banter, in deep Southern accents, comes thick and fast, delivered with impeccable timing and believability. Along with the sniping and gossip comes a sense of an enormous bond between the woman that not even death can break.
Director Lee Lewis has given us a slice of Southern life at a particular moment that feels as real as the laughs, and for some, the tears, from the well-crafted script and the actors’ delivery.
Praise should also be given for her smooth execution of physical business on stage, particularly when all actors are in scenes together.
Simone Romaniuk’s set for Truvy’s salon also undergoes subtle changes across the passage of time, and we can believe why it has become a safe haven for this group of women.
One often unsung creative is the dialect coach, and Jennifer White deserves credit that not one Aussie vowel slips in across the entire production.
The play’s title, Steel Magnolias, alludes to the strength that these women possess, and at the end you are left with an affirmative experience that has taken you on a roller coaster ride of life.
Steel Magnolias
Theatre Royal Sydney, 108 King Street, Sydney
Performance: Thursday 14 May 2026
Season continues to 30 May 2026
Bookings: www.theatreroyalsydney.com
Following the Sydney season, Steel Magnolias will play the IMB Theatre – IPAC, Wollongong from 3 June, Canberra Theatre Centre from 17 June, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth, from 7 July and Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre from 23 July 2026. For more information, visit: www.steelmagnoliasplay.com.au for details.
Images: Jessica Redmayne, Belinda Giblin, Lisa McCune, Mandy Bishop, Lotte Beckett and Debra Lawrance in Steel Magnolias – photo by Brett Boardman | Jessica Redmayne and Lisa McCune in Steel Magnolias – photo by Brett Boardman
Review: John Moyle