Steel Magnolias: Exploring Humor and Self-Expression to Cope with Difficulties

By Liz Armstrong, guest writer

Theatre has long been a form of expression that captures the essence of the human experience. Since possibly as early as 2500 BCE, it has been a way to help both performers and audiences cope with the challenges and difficulties of life.

But the creation and writing of a play itself can be just as therapeutic. This is especially true for playwright Robert Harling with his play, Steel Magnolias. For him, writing the play served as a cathartic process while he struggled to cope with the passing of a loved one. 

In 1985, Harling’s sister Susan Harling-Robinson passed away from diabetic complications after the birth of her son, and the transplant failure of a family-donated kidney.

Harling’s friend encouraged him to write to help him come to terms with the death of his sister. The playwright not only did this to help process his own grief, but hoped it would give his nephew an understanding of his deceased mother.

“I desperately needed to celebrate [my sister], my mother, and the loving community of neighborhood ladies that had supported them through good times and bad,” Harling wrote for Garden and Gun.

He was an actor at the time, and what originally was going to be a short story developed into a play, where Harling explored themes of coping. Through the play, he illustrates the various ways in which the characters deal with the hardships they encounter. 

Set in a hair salon, the women of Steel Magnolias share their lives and laughter with each other. 

“I don’t trust anybody that does their own hair. I don’t think it’s normal,” Truvy, a character in Steel Magnolias, says. 

This humor was based on Harling’s own sister. 

“She had an ability to turn a phrase that could make you laugh and cry at the same time,” Harling said.

The characters in Steel Magnolias lean on humor throughout the play as a coping mechanism, representing what Harling’s own family did before and after Susan’s death.

“Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion,” Truvy says*.* According to Harling, it seems that was Susan’s favorite emotion too. 

Written in just ten days, the play not only served to honor Harling’s sister, but lives on as a symbol of resilience for all those who experience the story. It portrays the indomitable tool of using humor, love, and friendship to find the strength to move forward, especially when doing so seems impossible. 

The play has shown its own form of resilience, with people still quoting, performing, and enjoying it nearly 40 years later. 

One of Harling’s most famous quotes from Steel Magnolias is: “I’d rather have 30 minutes of wonderful, than a lifetime of nothing special.” 

Originally opening off-Broadway, the national tour launched in 1989 and hit the West End in London the same year.

In 2005, Steel Magnolias made its Broadway debut. It was also adapted for the well-known film of the same name, starring Julia Roberts, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as the character Shelby. Steel Magnolias was adapted again as a film in 2012. 

Since its debut, Harling said that he knows of seventeen authorized translations of the play, having seen it performed in Japanese, Chinese, French, Swedish, Spanish, and Italian, demonstrating its ability to transcend languages and cultures. 

One thing Harling has learned throughout the popularity of his work: beauty parlors are universal. But even more universal, though, is the theme of the strength of female friendships and humor despite all odds.

To see this touching play, visit bard.org to purchase tickets. Steel Magnolias opened June 28 and runs through October 4 in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.