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Phil Hopkins
Group Travel Editor & Theatre Correspondent
@philhopkinsuk
4:29 PM 17th September 2015
arts

Williams In All His Claustrophobic Glory

 
Greta Scacchi as the annoying Mother
Greta Scacchi as the annoying Mother
If much of Tennessee Williams' work is autobiographical, and it is widely held to be so, then thank your lucky stars that you never had to live in the sweltering shadow of this Southern gentleman, or the claustrophobia of his overpowering family life.

Three years ago the West Yorkshire Playhouse brought the Mississippi Delta to Leeds via Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Now it is the turn of The Glass Menagerie, the play that very nearly failed but which, in the final event, catapulted self-confessed homosexual, Williams, to stardom.

Why do I mention his sexuality? Erroneous comment? Hardly for it was his tendency for self-reflection and analysis, that encouraged Williams to project himself onto many of his characters; Brick in 'Cat', Big Daddy's booze sodden gay son.

Erin Doherty as painfully shy sister Laura
Erin Doherty as painfully shy sister Laura


And so it is in The Glass Menagerie where one of the main characters, mother figure Amanda, delivered with seamless but annoying brilliance by Greta Scacchi, is widely considered to bear more than a passing resemblance to the playwright's mother, Edwina.

Playing in the Courtyard Theatre - the Playhouse's smaller venue - adds to the sense of 'let me out of here' as we witness Tom, Amanda's son, torn between financial loyalty to his mother and polio stricken sister, Laura, whilst harbouring an overwhelming desire to fly the nest and seek adventure.

Tom Mothersdale as Tom
Tom Mothersdale as Tom
On the one hand he knows he is the only breadwinner, on the other he takes solace in movies, spending night after night at the cinema, importing his 'adventure' from Hollywood until he can bear it no longer and finally does a runner to find the real thing.

Williams is said to be a 'dramatist of lost souls' as well as an 'old fashioned Southern romantic', something that seeps through Menagerie time and again. Mother Amanda seems unable to shake off a past when she had dozens of 'gentlemen callers', servants and the prospect of marrying a wealthy plantation owner. But she married a waster who dumped her leaving nothing but soiled memories.

So many of Williams' characters are tormented by the past of what they might have been, hanging on to dim and distant possibilities. Might Jim, the gentlemen caller brought home to dinner by Tom, be a prospect for daughter Laura? Absolutely.....until mother realises he is already going steady and blames Tom for his faux-pas; bringing someone home who was already betrothed to another.

It is an intense play which holds a spotlight up to all of us. It makes you think about many of those issues that beset so many families - loyalty, betrayal, emotional blackmail; you do things to kin that you would not get away with with anyone else!

Eric Kofi Abrefa as gentleman caller Jim
Eric Kofi Abrefa as gentleman caller Jim
Enjoyable? Is that the right word? It sends you home thinking and, for that reason, is brilliant but, after two hours, you are glad to step outside for a breath of fresh air! But I loved all the actors.

Interestingly director, Ellen McDougall featured 'water' in her set, just as they did in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

I was fortunate enough to bump into Greta Scacchi in the bar. What did it mean? I asked. Whenever Tom was silent he invariably dangled his feet in the down stage pool.

She felt it was symbolic of the flooding that was evident at the time Williams wrote the play, whilst also representing Tom's desire to flee his surrounds, to sail away.

Tom Mothersdale as his namesake, the frustrated but well-meaning son, probably wanted to tell his nagging mother to take a running jump, but he remained loyal to his polite roots and somehow, always managed to keep a lid on things.

Painfully shy sister Laura, Erin Doherty, showed some lovely character changes; she was said to be within herself but it was only when gentleman caller, Jim, Eric Kofi Abrefa, visited that her awkwardness really showed as a comparative stranger came into her midst and walked among her glass menagerie collection.

This was a great production, a thinking person's show and about the human condition in all its glory and ugliness. Worth a look.

When Greta Scacchi realised I was reviewing her performance she quipped: "Can I get you anything?" I refused. I would have still said she was good even if she had bought me the scone I was eyeing up!

West Yorkshire Playhouse
Until October 3rd.