The Glass Menagerie @ His Majesty’s Theatre
Saturday, August 13, 2022
The Glass Menagerie at His Majesty’s is the latest production from the Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA. Directed by Clare Watson, the production is vivid and thoughtful, as it attempts to respect the play’s original intent while also appearing fresh and modern for contemporary audiences.
Coined a memory-play by its author, the production stays true to the play’s original mix of hyperrealism and naturalism, with its relatively bare set and use of lighting enhancing the dreamlike claustrophobia of the narrative. The narrative’s fluid state is further encouraged by the set’s lack of doors, which on a practical level, also allow the audience insight into the entire apartment of the Wingfields. However, the play’s set is perhaps a little too grand and doesn’t hark on the grimness and abject poverty of the industrialised cities in the first half of twentieth-century America.
The play’s narrative is drawn from Tom’s memory of his days with his family in 1937 St Louis. Abandoned by Mr Winfield in the years preceding the commencement of the play, Tom is thrust into the role of breadwinner for his mother Amanda (Mandy McElhinney) and his sister Laura (Acacia Daken). The trio exist in a suffocating and claustrophobic space. Tom is conflicted; he knows there must be more to life beyond his banal warehouse job, but his departure will jeopardise the family’s already precarious situation. This fear and concern is brought to life by Jackson that, while restrained, is illustrative of the turmoil his character finds himself in.
Contrastingly, Tom’s mother is trapped in the past, a place of happier times of which McElhinney expertly demonstrates. Her arrival on stage prior to the visitation of Laura’s gentleman caller is a high point of the show. Careful not to steal the show, she is wantonly disruptive and a perfect study of faded former glamor.
In a similar vein, Daken inhabits the mouselike role of the timid and nervous Laura with great aplomb. The character exists in her own world, that of the glass menagerie of animals she makes stories for and the records that her absent father has left behind. Daken manages to intimate the fear of the outside through the use of subtle hand gestures and movements, most of which are directed away from the audience and other characters.
In addition to the cast, the performance features pianist Tom O’Halloran, who provides an improvised suite of modernistic pieces to match the drama and energy of the performance. Situated at the rear of the stage, behind the screens yet still visible to the audience, O’Halloran’s accompaniment serves to increase the dreamlike nature of their performance.
Ultimately, the production is a compelling and dynamic affair, exerting itself as both self-assured and sophisticated. By combining a desire for innovation with a healthy respect for its source material, Clare Watson manages to bring to life a twentieth century classic for a twenty-first century audience.
MICHAEL HOLLICK
