Tom Mothersdale as Tom (pictured above) is the narrator and protagonist in Tennessee Williams’ classic claustrophobic ‘memory play’. He recalls the dysfunctional nature of his family with an absent father, an obsessive and neurotic mother and a disabled sister who has had the ‘cripple’ label put on her for so long it has irremovably stuck and sadly lowered her self-esteem.
Against the breakdown of a nuclear family Tom has dreams of getting away from his mundane dead-end warehouse job and constant domestic squabbling, with him as a reluctant and incompetent head of the household. In a totally deluded way mother Amanda (Greta Scacchi) plans for a ‘gentleman caller’ to come and woo the shy and antisocial Laura (Erin Doherty, pictured below). Sick of been asked Tom agrees to bring one of his warehouse workmates back home. There is a great build-up to this but inevitably this is never going to be happy families, there is no knight in shining armour.
Tom is a dark horse though, living out his fantasies at the movies whilst half-jokingly stating that he is in fact a decadent outsider, frequenting opium dens and being a king of crime and corruption. But the reality is mere tedium and for some of the audience this repetitive dullness may come across as boring and not hold their attention.
But I found the dialogue quite riveting and its delivery, although frequently deadpan, has a heightened social realism through this. The production benefits from Fly Davis’ design that perfectly depicts a backdrop to the alienation and squalid misery to match the action. While Ellen McDougall’s deft direction is subtle and detailed in its approach to providing the right tone and pace for the staging.
In the climax there is torrential rain, a symbol of the struggle to get on in life despite what it throws at us, such seemingly insurmountable obstacles. And although like Beckett in ‘Waiting for Godot’ and Elliott in ‘The Uninvited Guest’ we are awaiting a cast member in vain for quite some considerable time. So Eric Kofi Abrefa as Jim plays a crucial role as a naïve but forward-thinking individual, full of hope and really not wanting to let anyone down or to hurt Laura’s tender feelings.
A powerful piece of theatre that hits home its autobiographical message (you have had to have lived this to describe it with such accuracy and poignancy) with great theatrical dexterity and emotional depth.
Reviewed by Rich Jevons on 16 September at West Yorkshire Playhouse where it runs until 3 October see https://www.wyp.org.uk/events/the-glass-menagerie/ and touring see http://headlong.co.uk/work/the-glass-menagerie/venues/