The Glass Menagerie at Belvoir

Rose Riley and  Harry Greenwood in THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Pic Brett Boardman
Rose Riley and Harry Greenwood in THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Pic Brett Boardman

For any student with a passion for drama, be it for the stage or for the screen, Tennessee Williams’ THE GLASS MENAGERIE makes for highly recommended viewing.

Great drama is about deep connection and this is what one gets with this play Williams wrote in the key of sorrow as he looks back on his life growing up in his struggling Southern family.

First performed in Chicago in 1944, THE GLASS MENAGERIE is the play that established Williams brilliant career.

From the moment that Luke Mullins as the playwright’s character (Tom Wingfield) walks through the audience (down an aisle), onto the stage and prefaces his memory play that is about to unfold before their eyes, to that desperately sad final moment when Tom directs his much loved, frail younger sister Laura to blow out her candles, we fall under the spell of Williams’ writing and the deep ache that emanates from it.

Belvoir’s current revival serves the play well with Eamon Flack sensitive direction. The feature of his production is that he has reframed the play in the style of a classic black and white Hollywood melodrama, complemented with Stefan Gregory’s dark score. The fit is very good,

Luke Mullins delivers a strong performance in the main role as Tom, an intelligent, sensitive young man who is desperate to escape his family’s pain and suffering but never quite makes the break.

Pamela Rabe plays Tom‘s highly strung mother, Amanda, perhaps at just a bit too high a pitch.

Rose Riley breaks one’s heart as the delicate, troubled Laura, forever polishing an object from her glass menagerie.

Harry Greenwood gives a subtle performance as Jim O’Connor-the Gentleman Caller- Tom’s work colleague, who finds himself ensnared in the Wingfield family’s intricate drama.

There was a bit of a reservation about Michael Hankin’s set which sees the main structure of the family house on stage, and the action in the family living room is hidden from view by audiences sitting in the seats on the sides.

This current Belvoir Street Theatre production takes place in its upstairs theatre, and is playing until Sunday 2nd November.