The Glass Menagerie

Opening night of the The Glass Menagerie was an incredible success. The Green Room's first performance in their new black box theatre space was sold out and a few extra chairs were added to accommodate the overflow.

Tennessee William's widely read play, The Glass Menagerie, has many suggested interpretations. It is a story told by Tom, brother of the sickly and shy Laura, and son of the "charming" and overzealous Amanda. In the story you also meet two other characters; Jim-Laura's 'gentleman caller', and Mr. Wingfield-Amanda's husband who is referenced to many times throughout the play though you never see him except in the ever-present picture in the house. Amanda desperately wants to find Laura a husband to take care of her. Laura would be perfectly content just sitting all day cleaning and arranging her glass animals that her mother calls her Glass Menagerie.

I was surprised when I walked into the space. I've never seen a black-box theatre production before so I was not expecting such a small stage area. It was set up so you had to walk across the 'stage' to get to the seats on the one side. It was more like a thrust stage in that respect. The set was interesting, very minimal and well-used. The use of side entrances was a clever way of establishing different ways of the house you could enter from. I like how using the house left door was used as a back balcony exit from the house, and the way the lighting was used to show it was outdoors.

Overall I really enjoyed the show. I have seen two of the actors in quite a few productions now, most of them being comedies, so seeing them in such serious roles was a great change of pace. The whole cast was great. I had a strong distaste for Jim, the character not the actor. I'd never read Jim that sleazy before, but seeing him portrayed like that made much more sense.

I would strongly suggest you check out this show, BUT call ahead of time and reserve your tickets since the theatre only holds 96.

You have the opportunity to catch this show next weekend;
January 28 and 29 at 8pm
January 30 at 3pm

View The Green Room's website for ticket prices and availability.