‘Memory takes a lot of poetic license’ said Tennesee Williams, but that seems to have led to some pretty odd staging decisions it’s set over two time periods, but it never seems to establish what those are, music and costumes never seem to fit, so when Amanda appears in the gown she wore as a teenager it doesn’t have the effect it’s supposed to have.Today’s performance is brought to you by the phrase ‘Gentleman caller’, and scenes of pensive smoking.
Above the stage a large screen displays film noir type projections, if you’re lucky you might just make out a fire escape (when the characters are supposed to be on a fire escape) otherwise it appears to serve no useful purpose. The cabinet feels disproportionately large, overbearing and threatens to become the star of the show itself. The only piece of ‘scenery’ that gives any indication that you’re watching The Glass Menagerie, is the cabinet housing Laura’s collection of figurines. The rather odd staging looks as if the entire rehearsal room has been lifted directly on to the Duke of York’s stage, a mess of clutter on the periphery with a black box on which the actors perform. If anyone saw John Tiffany’s beautifully magical production of the play in the very same theatre in 2017, they’ll be disappointed to find Herrin’s production seems to have done its upmost to be different. Lizzie Annis makes a stunning professional stage debut, perfectly capturing the total anxiety felt by the character, and the scenes between Annis and Victor Alli, as the Gentleman Caller Jim O’Connor, are the most impressive of the night. Tom Glynn-Carney is suitably angst-ridden as the younger Tom, the sense of his claustrophobia is palpable as is the love he feels for his sister. Times have changed, her husband has run off, and son Tom works in a local factory to help make ends meet. Louis, Amanda Wingfield remembers better days in the Deep South, when the family had servants and she was inundated with ‘gentleman callers’.
Hilton plays the older Tom Wingfield, with the younger version playing a pivotal role in the main thrust of the action. This semi-autobiographical work is always billed as a memory-play, our narrator (Paul Hilton) tells us so in the opening monologue and cautions the audience that not everything we see actually happened. Add in the directing talents of Jeremy Herrin and you’d be forgiven for thinking what could possibly go wrong? The Glass Menagerie is the play that launched Tennessee Williams’ career, making him a playwrighting star, it’s fitting then that this latest revival, at the Duke of York’s Theatre comes with actual star power, in the form of Golden Globe winning, six time Academy Award Nominee Amy Adams.
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