The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a memory play that centers on family and the complicated relationships associated with the word. Tennessee Williams is one of America’s most famous playwrights, so seeing a production in London was an interesting experience. Amy Adams stared as Amanda Wingfield, a mother of two adult children. Amy being American already set her up for success in terms of the dialect and knowledge of the region in which the play takes place. Seeing an American play in Britain is definitely a cool experienceas most of the actors in the play have to do American dialects. For the most part, the dialects in the show were phenomenal. As an American, it was easier to spot when actors would slip up, but the British audience probably wouldn’t have even noticed. For the British audience, this play gives insight to the culture of American city life and the effects of being raised in the south, as Amanda was raised in Mississippi which effects how she raised her children. Much like Americans watching British plays, British audiences must rely on context clues throughout the performance to understand the history behind the setting and actions of the play. It would be like and American going to see a play about England in the 1940s. I think that the basic human emotions found in the play can be related to by any nationality. The family dynamic found in the play and the constant fighting by Amanda and her children Tom and Laura could be found on any continent and in any time period.
The play we saw starring Amy Adams was honestly a disappointment. The acting was okay at best and I found myself rather bored throughout the show. The set wasn’t helping the actors any and hindered their performances. The set was a blank black stage surrounded by time period set pieces. I thought at some point the set would move in to fill the blank stage, but it never happened. The one cool thing I found about the set was the glass case that was revealed and held all of Laura’s glass pieces. Other than that, the set was too large a space for the actors to communicate the intimate setting of the play. The actors were more than likely directed in certain ways that caused their performance to be less than stunning. Amy Adams is an incredible actress and I feel that if the set had been different, the show would have been much more well received. The actors themselves seemed to be on different playing fields and even in completely different shows when it came to being onstage together. The one actor I felt impressed me was the actor who played Jim, the male caller for Laura in Act 2. He brought great energy and motivation behind his work and played off the other actors incredibly well. His performance was my favorite of the night.
All in all, I wanted more from the performance and left feeling like the show was missing something.
Theatre in London U of A 