This is a memory play.
This description speaks volumes about legendary playwright Tennessee Williams’ autobiographical and deeply personal play, The Glass Menagerie. De’ Lon Grant serves as narrator, the protagonist Tom and perhaps Williams himself focusing on the dysfunctional Wingfield family, the delicate nature of life, and the hope of what the future holds. This memory play was the first of its kind and Tennessee dedicated it to his sister in real life.
Exquisitely directed by Doug Lockwood, Gloucester Stage presents their 46th anniversary summer season with Tennessee Williams’ classic drama The Glass Menagerie live and in person at Gloucester Stage Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts through June 28. The show runs two hours and 25 minutes including one 10 minute intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.
There is a certain magic in The Glass Menagerie, even as dreams and reality collide. Taking place during the Great Depression in the 1940s, hope and illusion inhabit a cramped apartment in Saint Louis, Missouri even as dusty dining room chairs are uncovered in a dank room. Thin, translucent curtains, dining room chairs and a square of iridescent light shine in this space as De’lon Grant as Tom, Liza Giangrande as Laura, and Adrienne Krstansky as Amanda make themselves at home. Jenna McFarland Lord’s amazing set design infused with Aubrey Dube’s rich and crucial sound design is a breath of fresh air and holds a surprise which will not be revealed here.
Nia Safaar Banks successfully rewinds the clock to this vintage era with floral tea length dresses, wide brimmed hats, suspenders, and page boy hats. Amanda Fallon blends inviting and haunting illumination to this production which is often moody, veering from the evocative red flash of dancehalls to soft and luminous candlelight casting vivid shadows in the background.
In a long coat and brimmed hat, Grant weaves in and out of his dual role charismatically recalling Wingfield history and recollections while playing his part as Tom as the play unfolds. The Glass Menagerie’s small cast holds challenging and meaty characters steeped in deeply rooted flaws. Some of the family and societal issues that are brought up in Williams’ timeless work, The Glass Menagerie could have been written yesterday. Working as a workhouse shipping clerk, Tom has grander dreams and secretly struggles as the man of the house since his adored father left the family. Liza Giangrande portrays Tom’s helpful, quiet, anxious, sweet and imaginative sister Laura who has lived with a disability her entire life. Pretty and slight with delicately braided hair, Giangrande delivers a meaningful performance as Laura exuding quiet strength in this sympathetic character as she struggles between escaping the world and a longing to fit in.
Patrick O’Konis is enchanting as Jim O’Connor who dreams of a life beyond working in a factory with Tom. Easygoing and ambitious, O’Konis makes quite an impression with Amanda and Tom while sharing some endearing moments with Laura.
At the center of the family is Adrianne Krstansky as Tom and Laura’s chatty, bubbly and yet anxious and controlling mother, Amanda Wingfield. Visibly shaking at times and fiddling with her clothes, Krstansky delivers a brilliant and unsettling performance as Amanda who veers from sing song excitement and fixation to alarm and paranoia handing out backhanded compliments. Dwelling on past charms and occasionally reminiscent of Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Amanda fixates on her days of prosperity when she was the bell of the ball. Ruminating on symbolic jonquils, she nitpicks, fusses, plots, plans and worries over her children’s success and happiness hoping to find Laura a husband.
Boasting raw and compelling characters, The Glass Menagerie is an affecting drama that mixes relatable humor, cruelty, regret, and generational trauma, but also joy, sweetness and amazement. Strong are the ties that bind. It is poignant, hopeful and it unveils a certain beauty in this family’s unwavering strength in these hard times.
With exquisite direction by Doug Lockwood, Gloucester Stage presents their 46th anniversary summer season with Tennessee Williams’ classic drama The Glass Menagerie live and in person at Gloucester Stage Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts through June 28. Click here for more information and for tickets.