Theater review: ‘Saturday Night/Sunday Morning’

The Lyric Stage Company’s latest, “Saturday Night/Sunday Morning,” is rife with caustic barbs and hilarious bickering. But just beneath the surface of the riotous dialogue lies insight into the lives of women brushed aside by mainstream society.

The year is 1945 and the sass is flying at Memphis hair salon and rooming house, Miss Mary’s Press n’ Curl, where a bevy of women of color not-so-patiently await the return of their men from World War II.
While they spend their time taking swipes at one another and passing judgments on their respective choices, debating issues like the merits of straightening your hair like a white woman have much deeper meaning.

Racism runs rampant outside the confines of Miss Mary’s and this is the place they find a strong sense of community, no matter how much fur is flying.

Miss Mary (Jasmine Rush) is part tyrannical landlord, part voice of experience as her husband was an early casualty of the war, leaving her his house. Rush finds a nice balance between hard-nosed businesswoman and sympathetic friend.

Cloteal Horne is delightful as Mabel, a good-time girl who’s so busy with the men in Memphis she doesn’t miss her husband at all. Meagan Dilworth gets some of the best lines and delivers them with impeccable timing as Mabel’s little sister Taffy (a virgin who aspires to be more like her sister).

Jade Guerra shines as Leanne, the depressed woman who hasn’t heard from her man in four years, while Tasia Jones is perfectly awkward as Gladys, the gloved one whose typewriter changes everything.
Director Dawn Simmons and an especially talented ensemble find the extraordinary in these ordinary women and give them their just due with this heartwarming production.

If you go:

Through Nov. 21st
Lyric Stage
140 Clarendon St., Boston
$31 – $65
617-585-5678