STEEL MAGNOLIAS

BLOG: Jaroslav Štěpaník’s Periodical (No. 81)

(…) The Brno production was successfully directed by experienced Slovenian director Katja Pegan, long-time director at the Koper Theatre. Six women appear in the play under her orchestration. Most of these are well-known and popular regulars with the drama company, a position that is further confirmed by their performances here, while the smaller number of younger actresses keep step with them. There are no men on stage as the author did not write any roles for them. He did, however, add a hairdressing salon to the central dramatic plot, an ideal environment where everything can be talked over and worked through. The six women are made up by the salon owner, new employees and regular customers. Each is different, yet there is a closeness between them. The men, invisible to the eye as they come into their lives, are part of a lightly sketched background encroaching on the course of their individual destinies and present-day lives.

(…) The author’s connection of the core of the drama and the hairdressing salon with the women, their thoughts and conversations, from which we learn something about the past and something about closeness, female understanding, unity and solidarity, works perfectly. The work of the production team and the performances of the six actresses are also a success.

The conclusion is dramatically impressive and psychologically interesting. The tragic was mixed and combined particularly successfully with the grotesque in a skilful and effective manner here. The suffocating atmosphere of the assembled women’s repressed emotions is underlined by the black of their clothing. M’Lynn is the last to enter, at first seemingly calm. The efforts of the others to help in some way, to express understanding and concern, are like oil poured onto a red-hot frying pan for the mother who has lost her daughter. In the conclusion full of tense and contradictory emotions, Markéta Sedláčková gave a shining portrayal right up to the final catharsis. This is preceded by an explosion of anger and rage at the whole world. Mostly, she would like to slap the person who is responsible for it all. This wish is aroused by the unexpected, seemingly absurd response from Ivana Vaňková’s otherwise calm Clairee (that is, if the passionate sports fan does not happen to be at the stadium during an exciting match). She impulsively leaps towards Ouiser, pushes her like a confused victim who does not understand anything, and shoves her towards execution, which of course does not happen, but it calms the tension. It is worth saying that Alena Antalová has constructed a remarkable role with a distinctive and original female character in the small space offered by the script. Her portrayal was captivating and surprising.

I would merely add that the absurd reaction, almost black humour, was played out by the two in the same spirit and as intended by the play. The grotesque scene cut through the tragic conclusion and brought with it a calmness and the beginning of reconciliation with the irreversible, with what cannot be changed. The play and the author’s first script are probably his best. The production by Brno City Theatre will certainly captivate and appeal to a wide audience. (...)

Six women play for their lives (…)

(…) It could be said that the brutally real life story of the Harling family, with its devastating ending, was responsible for this author of “cute entertainment”, as all his other works are characterised by the critics, writing something in which you can really feel the tears and a genuine experience for the only time in his life. Although most of the play is based on the frivolous everyday conversations of six “ordinary” women, the devasting conclusion shifts this conversation piece in a small ladies’ hair salon in a small town in Louisiana onto a completely different level. Moreover, the whole thing is performed so convincingly that some of the audience, evidently with similar experiences in their own lives fresh in their minds, had trouble breathing during the final act and some even had to leave the auditorium.

(…) Markéta Sedláčková, in the role of the mother of the sick Shelby who is dealt a cruel hand by fate, has evidently once again taken a step towards at least a nomination for a Thalia Award, not just for her believable portrayal of the cruel ending, but also for her disciplined depiction of the character of a caring wife and mother. Alena Antalová enjoyed the role of the mouthy woman who “has not been in a good mood for the last thirty years” and far from embarrassed herself. And the performances of all the other actresses are at the very least perfectly professional.

And the same can also be said of Jaroslav Milfajt’s set and Andrea Kučerová’s costumes, which entirely appropriately evoke the atmosphere of the 1980s, when the plot of Harling’s “personal” play takes place.

Six women chat in a hair salon… … and entertain the audience in this new production of Steel Magnolias at Brno City Theatre

(…) The stage is illuminated and Truvy Jones is sitting in front of the mirror with a tall, wide and simply spectacular hairstyle. She is, after all, the owner of a hair salon. She looks at herself in the mirror, adjusts her hair over and over again, in an exaggerated manner of course, people laugh, enjoying Radka Coufalová’s performance. A seemingly less striking girl arrives, actually young Annelle Dupuy Desoto, the new hairdresser. She says, a little mysteriously, that she is and is not married. A denouement is to come. And then things get moving. The women gradually get involved in the action with humorous lines, even when they are talking about serious things. They make the most of the text and the plot of the play, which could take place in any civilised country, though here it has the hallmark of America in the 1980s. The stories of each of them are gradually revealed, giving the play the appropriate momentum. Things are accelerated by the arrival of the “sweet at heart” Ouiser Boudreaux played by Alena Antalová, who fulfils the author’s wish to the letter, namely to be slightly obnoxious and at the same time a rather sweet commenter on all the action. She is something of a tough guy in female form, but quickly gains the favour of the audience. “I wouldn’t even want to meet a woman like her, but she’s a wonderful role to play,” says Alena Antalová in a video on the theatre’s Facebook. Yes, even there the theatre is presented in a light-hearted, yet professional manner.

We also learn from the women’s dialogues the story of Clairee Belcher, the widow of the former mayor, who is brought to the stage by Ivana Vaňková, another uncompromising actress. We learn all the women’s stories from narration in the fashion of a Shakespearean drama. We get to see the desires, sadness and joys of the women involved. The true story on the stage is that of Shelby, according to the author the most beautiful girl in town, and her mother M’Lynn Eatenton. They are played by the truly beautiful Eliška Hladilová, whose high voice and slim figure suit the role, and Markéta Sedláčková, who conveys to the audience her deep grief about where the situation is headed practically the entire time and about what is unfortunately to happen in the end.

I believe director Katja Pegan let all the actresses play their roles as they felt them and saw them themselves. Before the premiere, they and the director said working together was an extremely enjoyable experience. (…) There is tension between the women, they argue, scream, and pull each other’s hair. Some of the wigs were perhaps rather too big in any case, but we are in a hair salon after all.

Designer Andrea Kučerová also “went wild” in the good sense of the word. She gradually dresses each character in different costumes, since the individual scenes take place with the passing of time. Part of the play is also set at Christmas. The female members of the audience particularly appreciate the parade of long and short dresses for day and evening, with and without belts, sweaters, blouses and tops. It’s all extremely becoming and well-fitting and gives the production a nice gloss. The blue denim dungarees fit Alena Antalová nicely during her first entrance. She subsequently wears more attractive costumes... Pleasing music by Mirko Vuksanović, the director’s collaborator and regular guest at Brno City Theatre, can be heard from the darkened stage between scenes. The hairdressing salon was stunningly designed and furnished with everything necessary by Jaroslav Milfajt. (…)

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