Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Everyman Theatre, ACT Hub, 8-18 May

 

Alan Ball's 1993 comedy-drama was one of the first works in his professional career, before moving on to write for sitcoms "Grace Under Fire" and "Cybill", then getting wider success as writer of "American Beauty", creating the drama series "Six Feet Under" and adapting Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries into the long-running "True Blood". Like a lot of emerging writer's work, it works almost as a sample of everything he's capable of - using the premise of five bridesmaids hiding from a lavish wedding reception in the bedroom of the bride's younger sister as an opportunity to explore a whole lot of stories about female frustrations, desires, friendships, and rages. For the first act as we're introduced to the characters, this moves briskly and often hilariously - in the second, the resolution feels a little whiplashy as multiple tones bash up against each other in fairly quick succession, leading to a dramatic situation setup but not quite resolved and the odd interpolation of a bit of light rom-com dialogue near the end as the sole male character makes an appearance. But for much of it's length, it's a fun vehicle for five women in a tight tense situation to develop powerful, intriguing characters. 

Everyman's production hits each of the varied tones that are required in the play really well - while analysing afterward, it does slightly feel like five plays bumping up against each other, in performance, the production flows very well. There's strong performances from the titular 5 women - Hannah Lance as the endearingly naive fundamentalist Frances, Winsome Ogilvie as the rageful younger sister of the bride, Kelly Roberts as the kindest of the lot, supportive and yet cynical and quippy, Charley Allanah as the unhappily married one looking for a chance to have a fling, scatterbrained and yet sharp enough to see through the nonsense, and Kristy Griffin as the lesbian sister of the groom, lively and engaging but willing to stand up for herself. Joel Horwood as the token male does well with the brief material they have but it's slightly apart from the energy of the rest of the play - the issues with their character are largely structural, not performance-based. 

Steph Roberts gives the action a cracking pace and finds lots of space for physical comedy in among the action - staging the play in the round (or more precisely, an octogon), finding intimacy without ever losing audience connection. Chris Zuber's set looks great at all angles and keeps the women confined while giving them enough space to play up against each other. Nikki Fitzgerald's sound and lighting supports the mood admirably, letting the space feel warm and comfortable. Fiona Leach's costumes are suitably bridesmaid-hideous with all sorts of ruffles and variations to let each woman express herself slightly differently.

This is a fun night out with a great range of Canberra actresses both familiar and new-to-me, all given plenty of room to show their skills, in an intimate production full of laughs and emotions. If the play itself is a little bit more of a bumpy ride, the cast are there to smooth the transitions and create a great hang-out vibe for two hours. It's a pleasure to be in their company.