Best frenemies

FASHION:Fencing chic versus clothes you can easily take off – meet the ladies of Ross O'Carroll Kelly

THEY MAY BE members of the most dysfunctional family in south county Dublin, but the Blonde and the Brunette, entangled as they are in Ross O'Carroll Kelly's deconstructed life, like to give their clothes a lot of consideration. Costume designer Joe Vanek, charged with the task of dressing them for their latest stage outing in Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, followed the script closely, sometimes, he says, against his better judgment.

Thus Sorcha, played by Lisa Lambe, is besotted with “fencing chic” and stomps around in silver gunmetal, tunics, and over-embellished footwear. Someone sniggers that she’s dressed like one of the Three Musketeers. “That dress does nothing for you,” says her best frenemie, Erika, unkindly.

“Of course she’s right,” says Vanek. “You’d never dress a bubbly, vivacious blonde such as actor Lisa Lambe in gunmetal grey.” It is perfect for a fashion victim, though.

The more feisty Erika, played by Aoibhinn McGinnity, is mostly dressed in black crepe and leather. The brief for her character is more succinct – she has to have clothes she can, well, take off.

A dress by Joanne Hynes makes a stellar appearance on Sorcha, whose favourite haunts would be Brown Thomas, BT2, Karen Millen and Ted Baker, among others. Erika, meanwhile, would look harder for finds in high-street stores such as Zara, Topshop and American Apparel.

Here the actors Lisa Lambe, Aoibhinn McGinnity and Rory Nolan – who plays Ross – are dressed in character and as themselves by stylist Lauren McCreevy.

Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, which opened last night, has a four-week run at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin