I love The Glass Menagerie but have never seen a full staging of it so I was really excited to see this production. I was thrilled when it turned out to be so absolutely spot on.
The staging of the play was just beautiful, with a real attention to detail. I loved touches like the live musicians on the balcony, one of whom was playing wine glasses. This delicate and slightly eerie sound combined with a mirror ball casting glinting light around the room complemented the theme of glass in the play.
It’s difficult to pull out one of the cast to commend because they were all really excellent performances. Leo Bill’s Tom was full of nervous energy, twitchy and awkward he really captured the inner dilemma between concern and love for his sister and the claustrophobia and frustration of his work and home life. Deborah Findlay as his mother was both funny and embarrassing to watch; although her performance in the dinner scenes made you cringe to watch it I also felt a lot of sympathy for the character. But probably the most stunning performance was that of Sinead Matthews as Laura. She was so awkward it was often painful to watch her, but her limp and stutter were subtle and well judged making the character very believable. And during the courtship scene with her gentlemen caller she really blossoms while still appearing very fragile.
There is a scene in the second act where one of the glass animals from the menagerie is positioned precariously on a stool as two of the characters dance around it. It is uncomfortable to watch because you can see the accident coming and hold your breath, waiting for it to be broken, willing the dancers to miss it. This was very much a feeling I had throughout the play. Tom, the narrator, lives with, and supports, his overbearing mother and lame sister Laura who is cripplingly shy and in her own world, seemingly incapable of getting a job to support herself and with no romantic prospects. Tom is constantly boiling over with frustration at his unfulfilling job and his mother, going out late every night to avoid the house and getting little sleep. He often talks of leaving, like his father has to pursue a life of adventure. The situation is precarious like the glass unicorn on the stool; we spend the play waiting for this fragile world to break apart. And as we watch Laura’s delicate hopes of a romance blossom we too hope for a happy ending that we know is inevitably not going to happen.
Something else I really liked about the staging of this production was the way the dinner table and chairs were raised up on a kind of podium in the middle of the apartment. It emphasised the importance attributed to the area by Tom’s mother Amanda right from the beginning “we can’t say grace until you come to the table” building it up to be like a stage within a stage where the emotions of the characters were most prone to boil over. In act 2 Laura cannot bring herself to come to the table when the gentleman caller comes to dinner, and when she is forced to attempt it by her mother falls and collapses. The staging highlighted how difficult for her it is, the step up forming an obstacle to Laura with her physical disability and also made stepping up to the table appear as it appears in Laura’s mind as a real entrance into the spotlight. It was a really clever example of how a simple staging decision can add emphasis to a performance.
The reviewers are right, this is an exquisite production. Catch it while you can.
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