"Steel Magnolias" by Robert Harling.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Just in case you didn't know, like me, the title of the piece is said to be how the female characters are described; as delicate and sweet as magnolias, but as tough as steel.

Set in the fictional northwestern Louisiana parish of Chinquapin, the play opens at Truvy's in-home beauty parlour where a group of women regularly gather. They discuss Shelby's upcoming wedding to her fiancé, Jackson. The plot covers events over the next three years relating to Shelby's Type 1 diabetes, and with how the women cope with their conflicts, while remaining friends: Shelby's decision to have a child despite jeopardizing her health, Clairee's friendship with the often bad tempered Ouiser; Annelle's transformation from a shy, anxious newcomer in town to a good-time girl then repentant revivalist Christian; and Truvy's relationships with the men in her family. Although the main storyline involves Shelby, her mother M'Lynn, and Shelby's medical battles, the group's underlying friendship is prominent throughout.

Many moons ago, when I was but a wee child, my mother used to take me, on a Saturday morning, to her hairdressers for her weekly hairdo. I'd sit there zoning out but now and again zoning in on maybe a few of the clients and staff's conversation pieces. fast forward, probably fifty years or so to this evening, and those memories of being sat in a ladies' hairdressing salon, and unfortunately zoning out some of the people within the salon, but focusing on two or three.

I'll be frank here, a lot of this play did not float my boat or keep my attention. However the second half is a lot better than the first, for me, but there were two constants and a late runner for my attention in "Steel Magnolias"

Laura Main (M'Lynn Eatenton), you will recognise from the wonderful "Call The Midwife" was the late runner for me. M'Lynn is Shelby's mother but it was only when the story unfurled after the interval did I really start to appreciate the acting skills of Laura Main. I am a big fan of "Call The Midwife" and love her acting, especially the emotional drama that she often had to portray, and it was the emotional act two performance that I really started to sit up and pay attention to the character in the play.

Claire Carpenter (Ouiser Boudreaux) understudied tonight for Harriet Thorpe and did a very good job, but again I couldn't really get attached to the character, I'm sorry to say.

Diana Vickers (Shelby Eatenton-Lathcherie) has carved out a very respectable theatrical career since being a contestant on "The X Factor" and I loved this portrayal of Shelby. Having never seen the film of the same name, all of the characters and characteristics were new to me, and this was one character who I instantly warmed to. Don't ask me why as I don't know, I was just enveloped by the character itself. I've seen Diana in several shows over the years and have loved her work, but tonight it was all about the character and how Diana played her for me. One of my two constants.

Lucy Speed (Truvy Jones), I remember from "Eastenders" many moons ago, is my other constant. For me, she drove this play and kept it buoyed for me. Lucy looked like Dolly Parton and sounded like Dolly Parton, and like Dolly Parton, she was fun, light, bouncy but where it counted, also had empathy. If you've never seen the film, like I have not, Dolly played the role of Truvy.

Caroline Harker (Clairee Belcher) has a very distinguished CV including parts in film, TV, stage and radio. I was mesmerised for some reason with the wig that Caroline had to wear, well I assumed it to be a wig, but loved the English accent.

Elizabeth Ayodele (Annelle Dupuy-Desoto) graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2021 and, despite the Covid years, is building a nice list of theatre and film credits to her name. This character, for me was the only one that developed from where it started to the end of the play.RoRoyal Central School of Speech and Dramayal Central School of Speech and Drama

Laura Hopkins' Set Design was wonderful and the scene changes in Act One were incredibly swift, I am still trying to work out how they did them with the additional props that suddenly appeared on stage with just the shortest of turnarounds. I also liked the fact that the set was reversed in Act two to get a different perspective of the salon.

Howard Hudson's Lighting Design was effective, I'm not going to give any of the story away by saying which parts of the design made me feel that way; go and see for yourself.

The Sound Design and Music is by Max and Ben Ringham. I always love it when a sound effect can turn your attention to a specific area of the set, whether that be on stage or off stage, and this design controlled your ears as well as your eyes, almost like a magician would point you in the direction that he/she wanted you to look. Very clever, and I appreciated it.

Directed by Anthony Banks, for me it was like looking for the meat in a stew, you had to swallow a lot of gravy before you got to some meaty bits. But it flowed well and there were enough carrots to entice me to want to see more.

I also loved the wigs and costumes - I've already touched on one wig - Susan Kulkarni's costumes were brilliantly, but aptly dated - well I was around to witness the style myself. Richard Mawbey's wig designs were fantastic and the combination of the wigs and costumes for Lucy Speed was worth the ticket price itself.

Ok, so the story didn't grab me and several of the characters didn't click with me but there were sections and characters in here that did, and they made it worth the watch. I do not think I'll be searching Youtube though to view the original film.

What it does show though is the power of talk and womanhood as well as friendship and good friends.

"Steel Magnolias" will be shutting up shop and relocating after their final makeover on Saturday 15 April.