Steel Magnolias is a sparkling and sombre comedy about the importance of trivia in helping people soldier on. The play is set in a beauty parlour somewhere in Louisiana USA. Four women meet there regularly and engage in small town gossip running the gambit of the birth/death cycle. The dialogue and wit of the women is very funny.However; the play moves towards tragedy when the young woman, (daughter of one of the four clients a diabetic) dies following a kidney-transplant operation. The deep strength and purposefulness underlying the antic banter of the characters is ultimately revealed.