*** One of the welcome events in this BMDS celebration of half a century's work was the staging of what is still quite a rarity -- a play that offers good roles for women. Not only that, it is a play about women which tries to show the way women think, and cope with all the vicissitudes of life. Written by a man, of course, but any stereotyping is more easily cloaked when you set the action, as he rather cleverly has, amongst a set of small-town southerners whose sometimes unlikely bonding is probably dictated as much by sheer boredom as by geographical limits. No danger, it would seem, of this lot getting hysterical about politics or business topics.

Luckily, too, author Robert Harling has a flair for the comic one-liner which certainly sharpens the rather sugary path to tragedy in this neatly named "Steel Magnolias''. These exotic, fragile blooms are, of course, synonymous with the South but it is the strength of women in adversity ("men are supposed to be made of steel'') which provides the title and the core of the drama.

Due to this reviewer's absence from the Island, this production was reviewed at the end of its run, by which time, a misfortune of its own had overtaken the Daylesford cast. Presumably, one of the reasons for staging "Steel Magnolias'' was the assurance that in Carol Birch, BMDS had one of its outstanding performers to carry the role of beauty shop owner, Truvy (Dolly Parton in the film).

Unfortunately, illness forced her to drop out after the first night and it fell to producer Helen Coffey to gallantly step in to read the role for the rest of the run. A hard act to follow, in any circumstances, but Coffey rose marvellously to the occasion: by Friday night, she scarcely glanced at the text and was sporting a fine Southern accent into the bargain.

Notwithstanding all this added drama, director Ian Burch had, in any case, selected a strong cast who certainly made the most of a comedy that turns out, at the end, to be a real tear jerker. It is always a risk, relying on amateurs to prevail, even if they initially succeed in speaking with unfamiliar accents, but this cast coped rather well.

Director Birch must have been aware that there would be comparisons with the widely seen film version, but he managed to sustain an air of suspense and poignance which in fact, was heightened by the play's reliance on subtlety and inuendo in evoking some raw emotions. Also, unlike the film, there was not a man in sight (apart from the excellent Arthur Lugo as the Radio DJ voice-over) which heightens the sense of female togetherness.

This all took place in the marvellously authentic local beauty shop which in this small community, takes on more the aura of a club, where women catch up on local gossip but, more importantly for them, can talk freely, and extensively, about the topics which women are supposed to find eternally fascinating -- that of birth, marriage, death and faith.

Shelby, the diabetic heroine of the piece, rather unwisely determined to branch out into motherhood, was played by Juliana Horseman. In many ways, this was a difficult role to play with conviction, having to move rather swiftly from a conventional, rather whiny young lady with a passion for pink, to a woman who is prepared to sacrifice her very life for longed-for parenthood.

Horseman, a promising young actress, coped particularly well with the diabetes attack, and invested what reality she could into her elevation to near-sainthood (some would call it stupidity).

Her mother was attractively played by Joan Hug who achieved a fine balance between a cheerful exterior and the obviously terrifying implications of her strong-headed daughter's behaviour. Her decision to donate a kidney was quietly done -- there was a feeling that this long-suffering woman, married to an eccentric with a penchant for gunning down pigeons, was perhaps the real saint in this group.

There was a spirited and comic performance, too, from newcomer Stacey Whitecross in the role of the `born again' Christian novice beautician, Annelle.

Almost stealing the show was another apparent newcomer, Jane Brangman -- though how she has managed to keep a talent of this magnitude under the proverbial bushel is difficult to figure out. Taking on the role of the cantankerous Ouiser, she captivated the audience from the moment she bounded heavily onstage, an elderly Southern lady renowned for "funny hats and ugly dresses''. Here was that rare performer who was a joy to watch as well as listen to, an actress who, even when she had no lines, fed off those who had, actually becoming an old woman who, in her own words was "not crazy -- I just been in a bad mood for 40 years!'' There was excellent rapport between her and the town's richest citizen, Clairee, played with charm and considerable wit by Jeanette Freestone. Sadly, this was her farewell performance as this useful and long-standing member is leaving Bermuda shortly. She will be missed.

Patricia Calnan