The Glass Menagerie at Dundee Rep Review
Written by Tobechi for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is the play that brought Williams from obscurity and secured his success as a playwright in 1944. This portrayal, directed by Andrew Panton at the Dundee Rep, is exciting, gripping, thrilling, and a downright interesting show from start to finish.
The opening is one of the best things about the play; it is immediately captivating as the Narrator/Tom (Christopher Jordan Marshall) walks onto the stage from the same entrance the audience came from. Starting the play quite literally with a snap of his fingers, in which the stage lights went up and the house lights went down. This set the scene for the thrilling play that was about to begin.
The pace of the show is perfect, not too slow and not too fast, letting the storyline be clearly told by the actors, and making it effortless for the audience to understand. The pacing of the play builds and builds and builds until ultimately it shatters. Never leaving a dull moment and grabbing the audience’s attention for the full 2 hours.
There are some very intense scenes, especially the argument between Amanda Wingfield (Sara Stewart) and Tom Wingfield in the first act; however, even though the actors' American accents stay the same, some diction is lost, which makes the scene slightly hard to follow.
The lighting of this play (Simon Wilkinson) is absolutely genius. When the “Glass Menagerie” is opened, a kaleidoscope of colours is released from the cupboard, shining upon each individual glass animal in the cupboard. Adding a stunning visual aspect to the scene. I also noticed that during some of the more intense scenes, the lighting also gets more intense, which is a nice detail of the play.
An incredibly smart feature of the play is when the portrait of the Wingfield’s father lights up when he is either mentioned or discreetly referred to through the actions of Tom. This lets the photo act almost like a 5th character who haunts the narrative for the entire show.
From the moment the set (designed by Emily James) is revealed, I am overwhelmed by the detail and beauty of it. During the play, the set was fully interactive, and the actors really explored every single level and area of the set, which added a lovely depth to the show. I especially loved scenes where the curtains of the apartment blew open with the wind, making the audience feel like they were really in the apartment with the characters.
All of the characters' costumes (Emily James) were also extremely well done and time accurate. When Amanda Wingfield displays her old yellow dress in Act 2, you can visibly see dust coming off of it, which is a particualrly clever detail.
Even though the show has only 4 actors, each of them portrays their character and tells the story exquisitely. I am also really impressed with the chemistry the actors have with each other.
Christopher Jordan Marshall encapsulates Tom's frustration and longing really well, especially during his monologue, where he is frustrated at his mother’s constant nagging. The actor is fantastic at exploring the storyline of Tom always going to the “movies” every night, giving the audience the impression that he longs to escape the current reality he feels trapped in.
Sara Stewart (who plays Tom and Laura’s mother, Amanda Wingfield) captures the character of Amanda and her histrionic personality extremely well. Every time she spoke, she had the audience's constant attention, and she really conveyed the fact that Amanda is trying to live vicariously through her daughter Laura (Amy Conachan). Laura’s sheepishness is also perfectly executed by Amy Conachan, who also has impressive comedic timing when the play calls for it. I particularly love her performance in Act 2, especially when she finds out that her high school crush Jim O’Conner (Declan Spaine) is actually engaged.
The character of Jim (Declan Spaine) isn’t properly introduced into the play until Act 2. During some scenes in Act 1, he floats the stage playing and singing beautifully on his guitar, adding a lovely musical element composed by Ruben Joseph. Jim’s monologue, in which he’s trying to stir confidence in Laura, is absolutely riveting. Declan Spaine just has this charm that has the audience hooked on every single syllable of his monologue.
If you have the opportunity, I highly encourage you to go and watch this spectacular play.
The Glass Menagerie is on at the Dundee Rep until the 18th of October and then embarks on a small tour to the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow from the 21st - 25th of October and the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh from the 4th - 8th of November.
★★★★★
