Review: Five Women Wearing the Same Dress by Gold Thread Productions

At a wedding, appearance is everything: especially the dress. You don't look at photos of the seating plan in years to come, after all. So it's a shame that this production of Alan Ball's 1993 play Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is full of superficial flaws that undermine the handful of strengths of its second half. 

The accents are shaky but it's Marisa Crane's costume design that's more problematic. While the choice to accessorise each dress to suit its corresponding character is well-intended, it comes across as laboured. Consider Mindy (an excellent Lucia Proctor-Bonbright), who enters wearing a rainbow-ribboned hat. Rather than appealing to the play's end point, which establishes Mindy as a complex character not solely defined by her sexuality, this production has her wear it on her sleeve – or, more literally, on her head. Similarly Georgeanne (Phoebe Mallinson) has no accessories. Is her character overlooked or just too difficult to easily convey in costume shorthand?

Ball's script was written 25 years ago, which goes some way to explaining his heavy-handed approach to social topics. Abby McCann manages to imbue religious bigot Frances with just enough sympathy to elevate her from mere stereotype.

There are flashes of nuance in the show. Meredith's trauma is relived by Lucy McIlgorm with grounded care. However, the glimpses of brilliance are swamped in ruffles of fabric. The seams of the show are frayed and with a two-hour running time the cast doesn't maintain a chemistry strong enough to hold court for the full duration.