Review: The Glass Menagerie at Sumner Theatre

Review by Greg Gorton

The Glass Menagerie is a touching exploration of working class America in the early 20th century, a play about the relationships between family members, and a criticism of how the world treats those who are othered. A beautifully written piece of theatre, it is easy to see why it became the script that sent Tennessee Williams on the trip to becoming one of the key Modernists of American theatre. It is far less easy to see why Mark Wilson and the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) would choose this play to make an over-the-top comedy that mocks the source material.

The Glass Menagerie features Tom, an artist stuck working in a warehouse to provide for his mother (a woman trapped in her debutante past) and his sister (who’s disability finds her unable to cope with adulthood and all the responsibilities it entails). Tom’s mother, Amanda, has in mind that the solution to their problems is to find her daughter, Laura, a husband. So she pushes Tom to bring home a suitor, in the form of Jim, an act that inevitably leads to only further disappointment.

It’s a script that touches on ableism, queerphobia, criticism of capitalism, and the simple desire to both escape and find connection. In other words, it is a script vital for today. It’s heavily autobiographical, and based on William’s short story, “Portrait of a Girl in Glass”. I highly recommend it as a superior version of the story.

The production design of MTC’s version highlights both the environmental pressures of having no individual space, the relationship between the family and the absentee father/husband, and the economic world these people live in. Kat Chan’s traditional set design of three connected rooms and a fire escape is compelling, and the “memory play” elements are highlighted in a cleverly designed picture and some unique uses of the space. Marco Cher’s sound design is perhaps the best driver of the story as a memory, and all the unreliability that entails. In his production notes, Williams insists that the music “expresses the surface vivacity of life with the underlying strain of immutable and inexpressable sorrow.” Cher’s work surpasses this requirement, also becoming a core technical link between the story and the metaphor contained in Laura’s little glass animals.

Matilda Woodroffe’s costume design is hard to regard outside of the decision to turn this play into a farcical comedy. With that as the statement to work with, the creation of Amanda’s dress and making Tom look like Ned Flanders in the musical version of Streetcar do the job they were intended to do.

Likewise, one has to praise, without even the slightest of criticism, the acting of Alison Whyte. Like many, I have been a long time fan of Whyte’s work. Her comic timing is impeccable and her lamentations became the source of much of the audience’s laughter. Harry McGee’s Jim is just as convincing in its mockery of the character, while the transitions between the contemporary and past Tom are brilliantly made by Tim Draxl. While I feel that the direction of Millie Donaldson’s Laura left the actor little to do, she absolutely shines in the second Act scene with McGee.

It’s the overall directorial decision that I cannot look past. Mark Wilson’s work on the recent Much Ado About Nothing was nothing short of phenomenal, and having made the choice to have this production be a comedy, and a parody (but not a satire), is mind boggling. Yes, there is humour in The Glass Manegerie, just as there is in Death of a Salesman, and Glengarry Glen Ross. But they are not comedies, and neither is the. But Wilson tried to make it one anyway. There is little interest in having us empathise with broken Amanda, McGee’s philosophies are but jokes and not recognised as those many people have, and the relationship between Tom and Laura is so unexplored that the final monologue holds no power whatsoever. To have made this decision can only be likened to making King Lear into a travelogue.

I think even Wilson knows this in his heart. Even with this emphasis on comedy, the show couldn’t avoid being sincere as Tom and Amanda properly discuss what he has been up to, and when Jim and Laura sit and actually talk.

For all the engaging production design and amazing acting, it is difficult to look past the greater decisions in this production. For those completely unaware of Tennessee Williams or his masterpiece, they might find themselves laughing a lot while wondering why so much of the show took it seriously. Anyone a fan of Williams will simply squirm.

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