This is an extraordinary exploration of the tensions, tragedies and loss of ambition.
Geraldine Somerville as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie | Photo © Marc Brenner
Set against vivid contemporary staging, the bones of the story are laid bare with gruelling intensity and frustrations.
Williams wrote the piece following his depression after his schizophrenic sister had a frontal lobotomy; the proceeds paid for her care, and it is unsurprising it remains a popular, if fiercely challenging, play.
Amanda Wingfield (Geraldine Somerville) is a fading southern belle. Swinging from control, the anger to love and total protection over her adult children Tom (Kasper Hilton – Hille) and Laura (Natalie Kimmerling) the anxious, socially incapacitated daughter.
Mother is intent on her finding a man to marry, considering her incapable of being independent, whilst Tom is desperate to escape his dead-end job and live a life at sea.
Tom introduces Jim (Zacchaeus Kayode), a colleague from work who is warm-hearted and kind. A world apart from the suffocating world the Wingfields live in.
All these dreams are, in true Williams style, utterly unobtainable. Amanda controls and chastens the children whilst they both harbour secret yet unachievable fantasies of living a life without her.
Geraldine Somerville is superb; she rules the stage with total oppression and the moments in Act 2 without her feel tangibly lighter. There are moments when it is hard to catch every word, but her presence is all encompassing.
Natalie Kimmerling is excellent as Laura, disappearing into music whenever she can. Kasper Hilton-Hille keeps the story moving, slipping in and out of direct address.
The modern staging and approach is purposefully bleak and empty. It is the story of human nature that is important, and director Atri Banerjee allows this to be the very focus of the evening.
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Reviewer: Petra Schofield
