The Glass Menagerie - Review

The Glass Menagerie - Review

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Posted 2017-10-13 by Douglas Sutherland-Brucefollow

Fri 13 Oct 2017 - Sun 22 Oct 2017

Thomas Lanier Williams III ('Tennessee' Williams) is a playwright with a profound influence on the American stage, and rather more widely, upon the theatre world as a whole.

He wrote many plays, two novels and many, many short stories as well as screen and tele-plays. His work is based firmly in the American experience of the 1930s, tempered with the influence of his own family and personal demons.



Raised by an alcoholic father, he was a heavy abuser of both drugs and alcohol and homosexual at a time when it was both illegal and socially vilified. All of these themes can be found in his works, many of which are quite brutal and confronting.

Sweet Bird of Youth involves castration, Suddenly, Last Summer is about a homosexual predator torn apart by a street mob of children and rape features in a number of plays, especially A Streetcar Named Desire.

However his first Broadway success, The Glass Menagerie, has none of these, being a not so fond ramble in autobiographical nostalgia, presented as a 'memory play', a term he coined.

Symbol is very important in this play, as in all Williams' work, referring to it as "the natural language of drama" and "the purest language of plays".

The plot is simple - Tom (Williams' own name, you will recall) lives with his mother, a faded Southern belle, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, struggling to live off magazine subscription sales and the $65 a month Tom brings in.

Tom also supports his crippled sister Laura (Williams' own sister, on whom the character is based, was called Rose) - neither women work in any meaningful way and rely entirely on Tom, who feels responsibility weighing heavily upon him despises his lot, his job and his mother, although he clearly loves his sister, despite his sometimes harsh treatment of her.

In a dog eat dog world, the two women are Pekinese, overbred entirely for the purpose of being decorative. They are the equivalent of Laura's cherished collection of glass ornaments, her 'glass menagerie', pretty and fragile but of no real value or use.

This difficult play was first time director Sibohan Vincent's choice for the Garrick Theatre and let me state immediately that it was a triumph.

The small cast of four were, after a very short rehearsal period, accent perfect and deeply engrained in their characters. An excellent ensemble piece of work, each shone in their own way. Jacqui Warner (Amanda) had the most obviously impressive role as the faded 'Shuth-ren lady' dreaming of ante-bellum glories in a voice that dripped mint juleps.

A masterful performance, comfortably this side of caricature, Jaquie made the very most of her rare foray into drama away from the farce and comedy at which she excels.

As her daughter Laura Goodlet (Laura, confusingly) had few lines with which to build her presence, but she managed well with tellingly expressive bird-like body language and intensity. An actor to watch out for in future.

As narrator and son Tom, Tim Presant brought conviction and that air of baffled rage so necessary to the part. In this his first lead role, he has done most amazingly well.

The fourth, the 'Gentleman Caller' on which so much depends was wonderfully played by the impossibly handsome young Kael McGrechan. A developing professional actor in the making, Kael has all it takes to succeed. By turns brash, kind, touching and gentle to Laura, Kael made the very most of what is a comparatively short time on stage as Jim O'Connor.



The staging was magnificent, as you'd expect from a George Boyd/Graeme Dick construction, the detail immaculate, the props (Lesley Broughton and Leslie Sutton) well-researched and perfect.

Costumes by Grainne Freils (assisted by Marjorie de Caux) did what wardrobe is supposed to do - add unobtrusively to the overall effect, much as good lighting and sound are supposed to - as they do here.

A couple of tiny cavils - I am not entirely convinced about the flashed text and pictures and I would definitely not have had the cast smoking when they so obviously don't off stage. I know it's redolent of the 1930s when everyone smoked, but it's just not convincing if they are non-smokers to begin with (also, Jim would never have smoked indoors without asking permission first).

But these are tiny, tiny points and mostly personal prejudice and you should not let them detract from the cast and crew's triumph.

Overall an absolute winner for Garrick and while there are seats left, I'd hurry.

The Glass Menagerie runs until the 22nd October at Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford. Tickets cost $22 and may be booked online here .

Very Highly Recommended.



#community_theatre
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#october
!date 13/10/2017 -- 22/10/2017
%wnperth
141095 - 2023-06-13 17:31:24

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