TENNESSEE Williams’ moving and evocative play, The Glass Menagerie, at Ilkley Playhouse this week and next, is a fragile tale of longing and aspiration.
The Wingfield family - single mother, Amanda and her two adult children Laura and Tom - is trapped in an atmosphere which is both steamy and suffocating. The stark and claustrophobic set accentuates the oppressive nature of the piece successfully, trapping the cast in a drab and stifling existence.
Amanda, (Julia O’Keeffe) has been disappointed in her marriage; of the 17 gentlemen callers she received in her hay-day she recognises she chose the wrong one. She is determined that her daughter shouldn’t suffer the same fate but poor Laura, (Becky Hill), is so wracked with inhibitions that even ordinary social interaction is tortuous. Tom, (Patrick Hebbert) has been left to support his family by working in dead end warehouse job whilst dreaming of escape. As both brother and narrator, Hebbert manages to hold his family at arms-length, masterfully balancing intense family relationships and the need to tell their story clearly.
The hopes of the entire family hinge on a ‘gentleman caller’ for Laura, who will give her a future and security. Becky Hill plays Laura with a studied stillness and with palpable anxiety. Her discomfort at the very idea of entertaining a caller is tangible making all the more remarkable her transformation when the longed for gentleman arrives.
Socialite Amanda is played with great passion and energy by Julia O’Keeffe; her ambition and desperation for her children leads her to flirt and fling herself at The Gentleman Caller, Elliot Benn, in an excruciating manner and whilst he is surprisingly charming and well suited, the fragility of the situation leads unsurprisingly to a disappointment.
This is a beautifully performed play of great dimensions. Mervyn Button and Ian Wilson’s intelligent and careful direction has enabled the cast to portray every emotion, which in turn allows the audience to feel them intensely. It runs until the November 12.
by Becky Carter
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