Theatre / Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. At the ACT Hub, until May 18. Reviewed by ALANNA MACLEAN.

Weddings can be grim affairs but Alan Ball’s 1993 backstage view of an American one manages to pack in a degree of humour to balance any seriousness.

The bride and groom are never seen, but behind the scenes it’s the bridesmaids who argue over relationships and attitudes while wearing a set of possibly the ugliest bridesmaids’ dresses ever. Suffice it to say that orange just doesn’t much for any of them.

The ceremony is over and the reception is underway and there’s much fun going on downstairs but the bridesmaids have retreated upstairs to a bedroom and a few home truths might be going to come out.

Younger sister of the bride Meredith (Winsome Ogilvie) is not just throwing a bit of an idle tantrum, there’s rather more to Mindy (Kristy Griffin) than her being a lesbian, Georgeanne (Charley Allanah) has reasons for being a fairly reluctant bridesmaid, Trisha (Kelly Roberts) is pretty cynical about the whole business, and the only one initially with a sunny view of the occasion is the naively religious Frances (Hannah Lance).

It’s a crowded stage and director Steph Roberts and a strong cast keep it all going very well on Chris Zuber’s imaginative set. Then it suddenly becomes a two hander that explores Trisha’s relationship with another member of the wedding party, usher Tripp (Joel Horwood). That’s a fine bit of sparring from both but it’s somewhat awkward in terms of the play’s structure.

Fans of the film American Beauty, for which Ball later won a best screenplay Oscar might enjoy looking at this earlier work. And fans of ghastly bridesmaids’ dresses will definitely enjoy Fiona Leach’s take on the phenomenon.