"The Glass Menagerie"
Exit 7 Players, Ludlow
February 2, 3, 9, 10 at 8 p.m.; matinee Feb 10 at 2 p.m.
By Donna Bailey-Thompson
When Tennessee Williams wrote "The Glass Menagerie," he was writing about what he knew: the mother is a stereotypical faded Southern belle who exaggerates the comforts of her youth; the sister has a slight limp (Williams’ sister was mentally retarded); and the brother is a stand-in for Williams himself – an aspiring writer who feels trapped by the financial and emotional needs of his mother and sister. Like his real father who abandoned the family, the play’s father has been gone for almost 20 years. And like the brother in the play, Williams walks out, in effect, leaving the mother and sister without hope.
Under the direction of Nathan Newton, Ludlow’s Exit 7 Players do their best to breathe new life into this 63-year-old play which has been analyzed almost to death, its symbolisms enumerated and debated. In bare-bone language, "The Glass Menagerie" is about an unhappy family headed by an aging mother who is panicking at the likelihood her withdrawn daughter will never marry and her son who to avoid suffocation of his psyche, must break away.
As Jim O’Connor (the gentleman caller), Doug Wilson gives a creditable performance. Betty Burrage as the frantic mother, Amanda Wingfield, hits her marks often; her nattering and verbal bullying of her children (one could argue for their own good) succeeds in deepening the reclusiveness of her daughter and the inevitable flight of her son. Brianna E. Stronk’s Laura Wingfield is emotionally repressed and physically shy: she wears her interior pain on her sleeve. She breaks your heart. Dan Derby’s Tom Wingfield is imbued with hair-trigger frustration, tender feelings for his impaired sister, and banked fantasies of flight.
Technical Director/Master Carpenter Paul Hamel and Scenic Designer Ken Samonds’ multi-level set reflects Amanda Wingfield’s attempt at creating a pleasant apartment off an alley. Costume Designer Rosalie A. Dialessi catches the flavor of the early Depression years.
Next: "Sweet Charity" in May and "Nunsense II" in June.
February 2, 3, 9, 10 at 8 p.m.; matinee Feb 10 at 2 p.m.
By Donna Bailey-Thompson
When Tennessee Williams wrote "The Glass Menagerie," he was writing about what he knew: the mother is a stereotypical faded Southern belle who exaggerates the comforts of her youth; the sister has a slight limp (Williams’ sister was mentally retarded); and the brother is a stand-in for Williams himself – an aspiring writer who feels trapped by the financial and emotional needs of his mother and sister. Like his real father who abandoned the family, the play’s father has been gone for almost 20 years. And like the brother in the play, Williams walks out, in effect, leaving the mother and sister without hope.
Under the direction of Nathan Newton, Ludlow’s Exit 7 Players do their best to breathe new life into this 63-year-old play which has been analyzed almost to death, its symbolisms enumerated and debated. In bare-bone language, "The Glass Menagerie" is about an unhappy family headed by an aging mother who is panicking at the likelihood her withdrawn daughter will never marry and her son who to avoid suffocation of his psyche, must break away.
As Jim O’Connor (the gentleman caller), Doug Wilson gives a creditable performance. Betty Burrage as the frantic mother, Amanda Wingfield, hits her marks often; her nattering and verbal bullying of her children (one could argue for their own good) succeeds in deepening the reclusiveness of her daughter and the inevitable flight of her son. Brianna E. Stronk’s Laura Wingfield is emotionally repressed and physically shy: she wears her interior pain on her sleeve. She breaks your heart. Dan Derby’s Tom Wingfield is imbued with hair-trigger frustration, tender feelings for his impaired sister, and banked fantasies of flight.
Technical Director/Master Carpenter Paul Hamel and Scenic Designer Ken Samonds’ multi-level set reflects Amanda Wingfield’s attempt at creating a pleasant apartment off an alley. Costume Designer Rosalie A. Dialessi catches the flavor of the early Depression years.
Next: "Sweet Charity" in May and "Nunsense II" in June.
Labels: exit 7 players, glass menagerie, greater springfield, theatre
