The Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
The Space: Southbank Theatre
Runtime: Two hours twenty minutes with an interval.
Stars: 4
Until 5 June.
Tennessee Williams. Ah, the angst, the suffering, the dysfunctional families. I'm there for it all. I saw Brendon Fraser, Frances O'Conner and Ned Beatty in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in London a long time ago. It was incredible.
In the past, I've seen The Glass Menagerie - I'm fairly certain I saw their 2004 production with Ben Mendelson Tom and Pia Miranda as Laura. Though it's not up there with Brick and Maggie the cat going for it, this rendition by the Melbourne Theatre Company is solid and enjoyable - maybe a little heavy handed in places, but I'll forgive that.
As with most other classic plays, the story doesn't change. Tom (Tim Draxl), a dreamer works at a warehouse to support his mother, Amanda (Alison Whyte) and his marginally disabled sister Laura (Millie Donaldson) He's unhappy and frustrated. His mother is a nightmare. His sister is reclusive, partly due her mother's indulgent, party through her shyness. Amanda is your atypical Southern Belle who's come across hard times. The family have come on hard times after their husband and father left to never come back. The family is a fragile powder keg of a unit. The only way to save them is to marry off Laura. Tom arranges for a 'gentleman caller' (Harry McGee) to come around, bringing promise, then despair.
This is a solid production. Not perfect, but very good. Some reviewers have called this out for playing to laughs - for me, it was more that they pushed the pathos.
Alison Whyte is fabulous as the vapid, insufferable Amanda. She does a very good Southern Belle.
Tim Draxl's Tom is great, even if he's a bit heavy handed in places. Tom's role is to display the angst caused by the desire for freedom set against the drama of family obligations. Having a starring role is Draxl's biceps, which are a thing of wonder. Mark Wilson's direction has overlayed all of this with a hefty side of closeted homosexuality. It was fine - I found it a bit heavy handed.
Newcomer Millie Donaldson, a disabled actor, in her first role, was very good as the fragile Laura. Her scenes with the Gentleman Caller were touching - and it was wonderful to see her come out of her shell. Harry McGee brought just enough bombastic Midwestern innocence and charm to balance things out.
The stripped-back stage, with the large, industrial stairwell to one side was effective, as were the 1930's costumes. Amanda's dress in the second act requires its own acting credits.
In some ways, this is the most personal of Williams' plays, himself the carer for an institutionalised sister, a gay man in a society where it was frown upon, a man who knew the difficulties of impossible families.
This is a good rendition of an enduring classic. The board at the front of the auditorium warned of ableist and racist language - of course - it's Tennessee Williams, what do you expect.
But this is good. Though provoking in places. I know I left after the last scene, wondering what happened to Amanda and Laura after Tom, like his father, had deserted the family - and this is a sign of an engaging, haunting production.
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