to the Playwave website or you SHALL BE REMOVED!REVIEW: The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
Presented by Ensemble Theatre
Reviewed by Danny Yazdani
Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie has long been a powerful exploration of memory, longing, and fragile dreams, and Ensemble Theatre’s current production does justice to this classic. With its intimate setting and thoughtful direction, this show delivers a touching performance.
Ensemble Theatre's space, known for its ability to draw audiences into the heart of a story, works wonders for this particular piece. The small, close quarters create a sense of confinement and isolation, amplifying the emotional tensions between the characters. Most importantly, the set is incredibly faithful to the Depression-ridden 1930s, and draws on the stuffiness, drab colours, and wooden materials of the period.
Set and costume designer Grace Deacon managed to innovate wallpaper that slowly ‘bleeds’ onto the floor of the Wingfield residence and warps into an incorporated portrait of the fifth character of this play: Mr Wingfield, the absent father and husband who “skipped the light fantastic out of town” and announced his escape with a postcard from Mexcio saying two words: “’Hello- Goodbye!’ and no address”. Deacon brings the source of many of the Wingfield’s problems, both financial and emotional, into the ‘fabric’ of the household; a resourceful and attention-grabbing triumph no less. The glass menagerie itself, a key symbol in the play, is dynamic and well-integrated into the set, providing a haunting reminder of Laura’s fragile world as it lights up, spins, and rattles as though it is just like another family member.
Within this environment, director Liesel Badorrek keeps the pacing tight, ensuring that every line of Williams' script feels laden with meaning, while also allowing room for the quiet moments that evoke the fragility of the characters' lives. Badorrek takes liberty with removing Williams’ iconic screen device but is imaginative in drawing focus to under looked aspects of the script. Her decision to record Williams’ stage directions with the voice over of Tom (played by alluring Danny Ball), the character-narrator of the play, was ingenious. Tom’s active role in providing “the truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion” is amplified by this directorial choice, as it is in others.
Williams’ impressive oeuvre, including The Glass Menagerie but also A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof amongst others, are endlessly performed and studied to this day, despite belonging to decades ago. This boils down to the universality of his work, much like other classics. But more importantly, it is the autobiographical essence, like the one that is felt by audiences of The Glass Menagerie, that keep Williams as an international regular in theatre company seasons. Grappling with his own mental health issues, complicated relationships with his parents, and the hospitalisation of his precious sister, Rose, those familiar with Williams’ life story can draw very clear lines between it and his art. Meanwhile, those unfamiliar still experience the precarity of life unfolding over the span of seven distinct scenes.
Across those, the performances of Danny Ball, Blazey Best (Amanda Wingfield), Bridie McKim (Laura Wingfield), and Tom Rodgers (Jim O’Connor), shine in their own right. Each actor brings to the text an adoration for its tragicomic nature, while also able to offer insight into iconic characters of the global theatrical canon. Blazey draws out Amanda’s misfortune, playing her with more tender vulnerability as she laments her glorious pass that “turns into everlasting regret”.
McKim, who sustains a dreamy Laura does not relegate herself to the shadows of her on-stage mother. She portrays the meekness that Laura often exhibits across productions – and does this masterfully – but with her own twist. As someone who has endlessly studied, watched and raved about The Glass Menagerie, never had I considered the opportunity for Laura to show anger, let alone multiple times. McKim asserted this not as a permanent trait but as a possibility in the range of emotion for her character.
Accent and dialect seemed to be the only reoccurring slipup of this production. This issue appeared in the performance of all the actors - some more than others - and simply needed more attention from dialect coach Linda Nicholls-Gidley. The Southern drawl, integral to understanding Amanda’s background and, by extension, her complex personality, was inconsistent at times. Tom and Laura, as descendants of a Southern mother, could have gone with or without it, but Badorrek’s all-round inclusion of them did create a stronger image of togetherness for the family. But the inconsistency, with Midwestern, Standard American and even New Yorker accents slipping through certain sentences and words, was evident. The criticism is not whether a Southern or any other accent should have been used, but rather a greater attention to detail being needed.
Nevertheless, this is a beautifully rendered production of The Glass Menagerie that captures the emotional core of Tennessee Williams and his play. With devotion to the source material and an intimate, evocative design, Ensemble Theatre has once again proven itself as a company capable of bringing depth and humanity to the classics. This is a production that is certainly worth seeing.
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The Glass Menagerie is playing at Ensemble Theatre until 23 April 2025. Tickets can be purchased here.
Production images by Prudence Upton
