Five Women is every inch a live situation comedy. Its jokes veer from issue to expected social issue. Much of its acting is in expository sitcom style. The first time I saw this script performed was in the Bible Belt, so its impatience with naïve Christianity landed a whole different way, but post-wedding irritation is all but universal. I wonder if that's part of the reason cake and champagne are provided.
The show's language, topics, and brief implied nudity make it too hot for network TV - and, I'm guessing, a few audience members, who left at intermission. That's to be expected, as its playwright, Alan Ball, is known for Oscar winner American Beauty and two HBO dramas, Six Feet Under and True Blood. In all those scripts, the female characters' dialogue possesses a certain oratory cadence that sounds less like women conversing and more like Alan Ball delivering a statement. That said, Laura Hanson (as Trisha) elevates the material she was given. All six actors are well-cast as individuals.
FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 14, Harlequin Productions, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, $20-$34.50, 360.786.0151