The latest
production from the Abingdon Drama Club -
The Glass Menagerie,
by Tennessee Williams - is nowadays usually described as a play about
a dysfunctional family. The success of this production lies in how strongly
and, crucially, sympathetically each member of the family is played, so
that what could otherwise be an emotionally grim evening is engaging as
well as compelling.
The play opens with a soliloquy by Tom Wingfield, played with great ease
and warmth by Michael Ward; Tom's resigned and witty commentary on life
in depression-era St Louis with his overbearing, ambitious mother and
reclusive sister immediately draws in the audience. But though Tom prepares
us for a witch, a harridan, Colette Lardner-Browne's portrayal of Amanda
Wingfield offers a more profound and complex character: a thwarted heroine,
even, desperately fighting for her children's all too unpromising futures.
And Liz Adams as her shy daughter pulls off with real distinction a difficult
balancing act, for Laura is seriously sociopathic, physically disabled
and given to self pity, but here we see also a girl of touching vulnerability
and charm, with unexpected flashes of light-heartedness. The glass menagerie
itself is a collection of tiny glass ornaments which Laura reclusively
spends her time with. This production skilfully leaves it uncertain as
to whether her occupation is a childish hobby or a sign of a disturbing
mental weakness.
Philip
Bower as "The Gentleman Caller" - a workmate of Tom's who, towards the
end of the play, visits the family for dinner, and is, with absurd presumption,
set up by Amanda as a possible husband for Laura - more than matches the
high standards set by the rest of the cast, again by keeping the audience
in two minds about his character. Is he bumptious and over-confident,
or simply ambitious, straightforward and nice? Does he really have a fiancée,
or is he suddenly panicked by the role of suitor in which he unexpectedly
finds himself?
In the atmospheric and intimate auditorium of the Unicorn Theatre, the
strength of the acting means that the audience is caught and held from
the very first. And the music is beautifully chosen to complement the
action.
Heather O'Donaghue - Oxford Times - 24/11/06
The Abingdon
Drama Club truly excels itself in this superb interpretation of Tennessee
Williams’ classic of 1930s America. This tale of dysfunctional family
life and the pressures on an only son to look after his mother and sister
in the absence of his father is thoroughly believable. Despite some wobbly
Southern accents and a few lighting problems, the first-night performance
was highly professional and completely enthralling. Liz Adams is particularly
well cast as the painfully shy sister who drops out of business college
because it makes her physically sick and whose only real hope for any
kind of life is to find a husband. Tom, her brother, the frustrated poet
doomed to work in a warehouse to support his womenfolk, is played with
sensitivity and feeling by Michael Ward and his mother, the inimitable
Amanda, played by Colette Lardner-Browne provides relief by supplying
much of the play's humour.
The "gentleman caller" (Philip Bower) is wonderfully naïve and gentle
and all looks set fair right up until the final denouément.
For an excellent evening’s entertainment in the stunning setting
of the Unicorn Theatre’s 14th century Abbey Buildings, with attentive,
friendly staff and generous refreshments (including free biscuits!), this
play comes highly recommended.
Victoria Bentata - Daily Info - 16/11/06
