The Glass Menagerie

On April 12th, 2014, Syracuse Stage presented the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. The play was directed by Timothy Bond, and turned out to be an interesting production. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play that is set in St. Louis in 1937. Its action is taken from the memories of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom who has a dream of being a poet works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura. Their father, Mr. Wingfield ran off years ago. They had not heard from him except for in one postcard, they said he fell in love with long distance. Their mother Amanda, who genuinely wants the best for her children, pressures them with her uncontrollable desires for them. She is disappointed that Laura, who is crippled and is painfully shy, does not attract any gentlemen callers. She is even more disappointed to see that her son is following in his father’s footsteps.

The director (Bond) chose the perfect people for the characters in the play. The director used blocking that was very effective and related to the characters personality. One example is when Laura who is Tom’s sister is always off to the side appearing to be anti-social and shy when interacting with the other characters. When Mr. O’Connor who is Tom’s friend from work came over for dinner, Laura was horribly shy and distant. She stayed in her room for the beginning of dinner, and once she was called to the table she was so overwhelmed that she fainted. Another example was the blocking between Tom and his mother Amanda. When they are speaking to one another Tom seems to be resistant to what she is saying, by turning his back to her and walking away. It can be said that Amanda is a mother that hovers because although it is obvious T...

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... music to set the mood. When times were depressing, there would be dark and sad music playing. One example is when Tom accidently broke one of Laura’s glass figures. Laura was astonished and disappointed which made Tom feel horrible. Another example was when Laura and Mr. O’Connor were dancing, there was waltz music playing.

Overall this production was very interesting and well performed. It was somewhat enjoyable to the audience, there were times of boringness but the comedy kept the play interesting. The director did a great job of putting everything together and as a result everything was on point. The only thing to say that would better the play is to make the play more interesting to the audience so that the audience does not get tired of watching.

Works Cited

Williams, Tennessee. "The Glass Menagerie." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.