When the going gets tough, women start laughing.This is one of the ideas behind an all-female comedy being put on by the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic (BMDS) Society.BMDS’ latest theatrical offering, ‘A Kiss on the Bottom’, opens at Daylesford Theatre on September 26.Carol Birch is directing the piece by award-winning Welsh playwright Frank Vickery.The play is set in a hospital ward and has three main characters Marlene, Grace and Lucy.“I like that it is a very funny play,” said Ms Birch, who has directed and written many BMDS plays. “It has a bit of everything. It is very witty, but there are also moments of poignancy. It just makes you think about how women tend to pull together in tough times. These women are all strangers when they arrive at the hospital, and from very different walks of life.“Being in that situation you can’t help talking to each other, and your most intimate secrets are there for everyone to see. I have been in a similar situation in a hospital setting. You bond with your hospital roommates and look out for one another. I think that is the biggest thing about this, the characters bond, and they do it with humour. That is a big thing that women do anyway. When the going gets tough, we laugh, but it hides layers and layers of emotion underneath.”Marlene, played by Nicola Wilkinson, is larger than life but has a heart of gold. Her unasked-for interference is full of good intentions and in the lives of her fellow patients and her nurse, produces moments of hilarity and poignancy. Hospital patient Grace is played by Liz Knight. She is coming to the end of her treatment and is resigned to her fate, but she still manages to surprise.Lucy, played by Rebekah Lazarou, has been lonely since the death of her husband and is timid and deluded. Her son and his wife lead her to believe that she will one day live with them but is that really their plan?“I hope that the audience will see themselves in the play,” said Ms Birch. “It shows that things are never quite as bad as you think if you have someone to hold your hand and help you through it.”Nadia Hamza has the role of June; newcomer to the stage Joanna Heaney acts as nurse Bev and Nicole Daponte as two characters a sister and a domestic.The play runs through October 1 at 8pm. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from the Daylesford Box Office or online, www.bmds.bm, from September 17.Box office opening times from September 19 to 23 are from 5.30pm to 7pm and an hour before curtain time. Online bookings are suspended while Daylesford Box Office is open. For more information telephone 292-0848. or visit www.bmds.bm .