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| Tennessee Williams |
Instead, the producers of the festival, working with the Theatre Department at the University of New Orleans, chose to focus on Tennessee Williams’ first Broadway success, “The Glass Menagerie.” In addition to being Williams’ most autobiographical and personal drama, it expresses themes and ideas that he would carry throughout his long career.
It is called a memory play, presented through the mists of time, which can dilute and distort reality. As such, it has remained one of Williams’ most poignant and deeply touching works.
At its core is Williams’ attempt to come to grips with his past, particularly his relationship with his smothering mother. Actresses across the globe should light a candle each night to the memory of Edwina Williams, for she is the source of one of the finest roles any woman can tackle on any stage – Amanda Wingfield.
It is a pleasure to see Janet Shea adding this vital role to her impressive repertoire with the production of “The Glass Menagerie” now playing at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre. She commands the stage as Amanda, the persistently nagging mother with her “Rise and shines.” But Shea goes beyond depicting Amanda as a mere harpy in a faded hoopskirt. She brings a deeper interior life to the character, making her more sympathetic than perhaps even Williams himself intended, but it is a revelation nevertheless.
She chooses to stay lost in her forgotten world of 17 gentlemen callers because life on the edge of the abyss with a sickly, unmarriageable daughter scares the hell out of her. While some interpretations of Amanda show her as an iron fist wrapped in velvet and lace, Shea gives her a strong backbone but it is atop anxiously shaking knees. In the end, the audience feels heartfelt sorry for her.
Unfortunately, the rest of the production rarely matches Shea’s performance, primarily because of a seriously flawed tone. Director David Hoover has chosen to stage a delicate gem as a broad comedy. While a wry sense of humor permeates the entire canon of Williams’ works, he certainly never intended it to be played as camp.
Cliff Thompson is simply miscast as Tom. His delivery of lines is unnatural and rarely becomes real dialogue. Playing some of Williams’ most poetic lines strictly for laughs drains their beauty. And while an actor’s physical appearance shouldn’t be in issue, Thompson’s shaved head is directly out of place for the character – why draw attention to it by leaving in lines where Amanda comments on his hair, other than to get a cheap laugh.
While some readings of Tom’s character will play up a sexual ambiguity, emphasizing Williams’ own early struggle with his homosexuality, Tom’s seething anger and frustration should not come off as the fit of a bitchy queen.
As Laura, Caleigh Keith struggled to find the balance between the gentle, scared girl and the histrionics of one gone over the edge. Were it not for a limp that comes and goes through the course of the evening, one would think Laura’s chief problem was a bipolar disorder. It was especially welcome then to see her blossom in her scenes with Jim. Like Laura, responding to his kind attentions, Keith found the beauty of blue roses in her performance.
As Jim, P.J. McKinnie was a hail fellow well met, revealing more layers than audiences are accustomed to seeing from this gentleman caller. Through Tom’s eyes, he’s a self-starting go-getter. McKinnie shows that Jim’s drive is as much about overcoming his own fears; he is driven not just by ambition but by the anxieties nipping at his heels.
This comic staging is often entertaining but for the wrong reasons. Perhaps future published editions of “The Glass Menagerie” should have a note on the cover reading, “Fragile. Handle with Care.”
Sources: http://www.nola.com
