Problems rob ‘Glass Menagerie’ of its power
We’re told by a character at the beginning of "The Glass Menagerie" that we’re watching a memory play. Director J.R. Sullivan not only takes that message to heart, he clobbers us over the head with it.
This gentle Tennessee Williams tale about a young, poor, coming-of-age 1937 St. Louis man is told deep in fog, dim-lighting, sentiment and unrelenting melancholy. The mood is so thick it upstages the drama.
But that’s the least of its problems.
The character of the aging Amanda is one of modern literature’s great, larger-than-life creations: a domineering mother who makes life hell for everyone because of tunnel vision and a genuine concern for her daughter. Demetra Pittman plays her so ordinary and small that she appears to be nothing more than a babbling, frail old lady. Pittman has a whiny, singsong voice that doesn’t lend itself to lead roles.
Her conflict with son Tom (Ben Jacoby) doesn’t have the urgency to suggest the events of the script’s final moments.
And troubled daughter Laura (Sara J. Griffin) isn’t vulnerable enough to cause epic concern.
By selecting such a low-keyed playing style (that keeps screaming, "memory, memory, memory"), Sullivan sets the stakes too low. He robs the story of its power.
Jo Winiarski’s set has the family living in what looks like a cold warehouse loft, with a huge gray staircase topped by a walking bridge. My guess is, the designer is suggesting how trapped Tom feels in his job (at a warehouse) and family. But we can’t even get an impression of what the living quarters look or feel like.
It’s a shock to find a character pantomiming opening a door when, for example, the dining table and living room (and even the pouring of what appears to be real ice-cold lemonade) are obvious attempts at realism. I couldn’t figure out what was symbolic, what was realistic, and what was so aesthetically captivating about a gray stairwell.
Jaymi Lee Smith’s lighting, while overstated, is often breathtaking and smooth (she makes Laura’s glass menagerie as beautiful as Laura imagines it to be). But if you’ve never before seen a production of this classic, you may walk away wondering why such a run-of-the-mill soap opera was ever so highly regarded.