The Glass Menagerie @ Playhouse Theatre

Not that I haven't already made it abundantly clear, but in case you weren't aware I love Tennessee William's play The Glass Menagerie. Like, I could talk about it for days. So when, quite by chance, I discovered a theatre in Kent was performing an amateur production of the play, I was immediately mentally booking my seat in the audience. (Thankfully I remember to actually  book a seat, too.) I really didn't know what to expect before going and felt a mix of trepidation and anticipation: it's like meeting your heroes, what if they don't live up to our incredibly high and virtually unreachable expectations? Having said that, I met one of my personal heroes in 2010 and he did not disappoint. In fact, it only drove my obsession deeper. 

Anyway, back to The Glass Menagerie. I was originally down to attend the first of four evening performances but due to unforeseeable circumstances Wednesday's performance was cancelled. Thankfully we were able to transfer our tickets to the Saturday, the final night of the performances. Having studied this play during some of my formative years, I felt some mixed emotions watching it live for the first time. I knew parts of the play off by heart but had never really imagined them being performed. It was an odd experience hearing them spoken, though the attempts at Southern accents were definitely consistent and really quite charming. The set though was the best part. I so wanted to snap a photo of it, more for my own memories than anything. but I'm far too much a rule abider that it was a goal destined to remain uncompleted. Descriptions of it can't really do the intimacy of the set justice but the photo of the long-distance loving father was as creepy as I imagined it might be.
One thing that I found different to the few expectations I had formed prior to attending was the amount of laughter some of the scenes generated. They are comical, I can understand that, but when reading and studying the play, those moments always felt more tragic than anything to me. I felt the same watching them acted out but it was good to see the play being so well received by the audience. It was odd to see the character of Tom being played so aggressively, almost. Arrogant, in a way. I'd read him as just simmering beneath those levels of emotions exhibited but it was a fresh way to witness the play unfold. If anything, it made the final act all the more heartbreaking.

I took my Mum with me, a novice when it comes to Williams's work, but I think she enjoyed it. The play is compact enough that it needs no pretext except that given in Tom's initial monologue. In that way, it's an incredibly accessible performance. I will say that both my age and my, shall we say heritage, made me something of a minority in the audience but hey, what's new! It didn't lessen my ability to enjoy it and I was happy just to have finally seen my favourite play performed live.  

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