SOMETIMES laughter is a matter of life and death and Tweed Theatre’s spring production may be the only comedy ever to make you cry!

Following on from the success of Calendar Girls, Tweed Theatre once again take on a challenging and exciting play with an all women cast. There are old faces and new starring in this production and if you did enjoy Calendar Girls then you will certainly love this!

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling will be known to many as a 1989 film starring Shirley MacLaine, Darryl Hannah, Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Dolly Parton and Olympia Dukakis. Set in the fictional town of Chinquapin, Louisiana the play explores the friendships between the women as they deal with the highs and lows of life.

Annelle Dupuy (Ruth Murray), a recent beauty school graduate, is hired by Truvy Jones (Katharine Mathison) to work in her home-based beauty salon. M’Lynn Eatenton (Pam Graham), a good friend of Truvy’s, and her daughter, Shelby (Joeleen McKean), arrive at Truvy’s to prepare for Shelby’s wedding, which is taking place later that day.

Also arriving at the salon are Ouiser Boudreaux (Chris Clarke), a grouchy, two-time widow, and Clairee Belcher (Ros Taylor), also a widow, who is cheerful and enjoys taking cracks at Ouiser whenever possible.

The story is set when Shelby suffers a hypoglycaemic episode in the salon and it is revealed that she is a diabetic.Several months pass, and Shelby announces to her family that she and her husband Jackson are expecting their first child. The women are thrilled, but M’Lynn is far too worried that Shelby’s body may not be able to withstand childbirth to think anything positive about it.

The story is based on the death of Robert Harling’s younger sister, Susan Harling Robinson, a diabetic. As her best friend and closest sibling, Harling found it difficult to cope with her death.

As the title suggests the main female characters can be both as delicate as magnolias, and as tough as steel.

Steel Magnolias is showing at the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles from March 27 to 29 at 7.30pm. There will also be a matinee on Saturday, March 29, at 2.30pm. Tickets priced £10 and £8 are available from the Eastgate Theatre box office.