Review: The Glass Menagerie
Article published: Sunday, March 15th 2009
This superb rendition of Tennessee Williams account of the travails of working-class American life in the 1930s opened the Manchester Students Union Drama Festival. Across the water, Europe is a searing tinder-box; while against the backdrop of the Depression and changing values, a family engages in a moving and amusing battle against themselves and one another.
With a dazzling score that lilts between elegant period jazz and atmospheric ambience, and a set that shows meticulous attention to detail, this is a consummate production.
Tom (played by Nick Stafford) is a restless factory worker, possessed of an intellect that sets him apart from his contemporaries. Dissatisfied with the routine of work, dance halls and movies, he dreams of departing for a life of adventure, but lacks the drive to bring his plans to fruition. Tied to the drudgery of domestic family life, he settles for scrawling poetry in the workplace toilets and nightly visits to the movies, a euphemism for some unknown debauch for which his mother berates him daily.
His sister Laura is the unwitting centrepiece of the play. A painfully shy girl in her early twenties, she spends her days going on long walks and avoiding her domineering mother. A small collection of tiny glass sculpted animals are of sole importance to her in the world. This gives the play its motif and title: the Glass Menagerie. Her crippling nervousness is brought out with subtle nuances by Liz Hutchinson, who neither overstates her timidity nor turns her into a lame caricature.
Helena Rice stars as mother Amanda. She not only manages to capture the character’s Southern vernacular but also nails her neurotic flights of fancy and reminiscent delusions with an impeccable physical performance. Overbearing and fastidious with high aspirations for her hapless children, her incessant monologue drives the action of the play.
Amanda is torn between fond memories of her own bounteous youth and her present desolate situation, recounting repeatedly to the irritation of Tom the countless suitors who would visit her as a southern belle. This trait of embarrassing anecdotes lends a credulous realism to the character, with whom you quickly grow to share a strange pathos. Strange, as throughout the play she elicits a mixture of pity and exasperation; but all the more realistic for it.
The antagonistic relationship between her and Tom draws laughter as he ripostes to her furious entreaties with wry, pithy remarks; here we see Williams intelligently observed and witty dialogue displayed in its full glory. Theres something in Amanda’s character, both enervating and poignant, that is true of all mothers; and, ultimately, her unfailingly blind love is what gives the performance such a tragicomic air.
The first half establishes Amandas obsession with finding Laura a man and thereby vicariously live her out her own failed dreams. This sets the scene for the second, which sees Tom bringing a colleague home for dinner in a deal struck with his mother. Cue the arrival of the charming Jim, performed with panache by James Bennison, which brings the play towards its quiet climax in which one evening in the family apartment will prove fateful for all four characters.
Lauras Glass Menagerie serves as a symbolic representation of the fragility of the characters’ precarious existence and also of their elusive dreams. It is a whimsical escape from the disappointments of reality; when carelessly forgotten or knocked over, its acutely delicate nature is revealed.
The performance leaves a lasting impression. It serves up hilarious one-liners and then delivers touching insights into the lack of communicated love that can tear families apart and goes from comically-portrayed domestic disputes to the harsh reality of wage-labour. And is, without doubt, the best student production I have ever seen.
More: Culture, Manchester, Stage
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