Director Jeremy Herrin underlines this by splitting the role of Tom (based on Williams). The Glass Menagerie was inspired by Williams’ own family. Jim kisses Laura and they dance, but when he accidentally breaks her favourite unicorn the spell is broken. He proudly boasts of his own attempts at self-betterment, including evening classes in public speaking.

They talk by candlelight and Jim encourages Laura to be more positive. Eventually he invites co-worker Jim (Victor Alli) to dinner.Īmanda is delighted while Laura is aghast when she learns it is the same Jim she had a crush on at high school.Īfter a power cut, they are left alone together in the living room. She recalls the numerous “gentleman callers” she enjoyed as a young woman and urges Tom to bring a friend home to meet his sister. He yearns to write and finds release at the movies.Īmanda’s “escape” is the past. A large cabinet displaying her menagerie dominates the stageīrother Tom (Tom Glynn-Carney) begrudgingly works in a shoe warehouse. Laura (a brilliant debut from Lizzie Annis, who has cerebral palsy) finds refuge tending her beloved collection of glass animals. The Wingfields live in a drab St Louis tenement and barely make ends meet.Īmanda (Amy Adams), a faded Southern belle abandoned by her husband, is desperate to secure a suitor for her mentally fragile daughter. TENNESSEE Williams’ memory play, first staged in 1944, focuses on a dysfunctional family who dream of a better life.

The glass menagerie play review