Five bridesmaids at a big, over the top wedding, in which it’s revealed that they don’t like the bride. So they’ve all decided to hide out in a bedroom, so that they don’t have to be around for the reception. This is the premise of Allan Ball’s Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, presented by Theatre BSMT.
Meredith, (Kas Nixon) sister to the bride, is hiding in her bedroom to get away from her mother. She marches in to find her cousin Frances (Jamie Matchullis) hiding out. In comes in two other bridesmaids, Trisha (Amy Burks) and Georgeanne (Helen Knight). Trisha has just had a fairly significant conversation with nice guy Tripp (Kyall Rakoz) and Georgeanne is having a meltdown about Tommy Valentine, someone she had an affair with. At some point, we meet the sister of the groom Mindy (Joleen Ceraldi).
The women talk about their relationships, their views on love and religion, as conversations and emotions crash into each other. They bash the guys who have stomped into their lives and wrecked them, mostly Tommy Valentine. There are compelling moments and threads of storytelling in Ball’s long play, but there is also plenty that doesn’t add up and doesn’t seem natural. Many of the conflicts that arise just seem to settle back down and aren’t addressed again. Characters aren’t profoundly impacted by what is unfolding and in this sense the narrative of the play is very disconnected. It’s disappointing coming from Allan Ball, the producer of TV shows True Blood and Six Feet Under. Every time the play touches on a nerve, the narrative doesn’t deal with, it just moves on to the next conversation. This has the storyline dragging at times, bordering on boring, though this presentation by Theatre BSMT is backed by fairly strong performances from the cast.
Nixon’s Meredith is varied and versatile though her character’s story is quite predictable. Knight’s Georgeanne is bang on. She is drunk and desperate and self-deprecating. Rakoz does what he can with Tripp, but Ball expects him to fall right into the narrative and his character comes off as forced. Rakoz, admittedly had fewer lines, but didn’t stumble on them as Ceraldi and Burks did.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress has some dynamic scenes and real moments of emotion. But the play drags on and characters don’t react humanly to conflict. Ball also have the discussion between the women always centering around a guy or their love lives. As if women don’t talk about anything else. At some point Trisha says ‘forgive me for being shallow,’ and it’s a request that is applicable to the whole play.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is presented by Theatre BSMT and runs at the EPCOR CENTRE’S Motel until December 21st. Tickets can be reserved online and available at the door. More information is available online.
Photo Credit: Eric Peters
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