REVIEW: The Glass Menagerie at the Nottingham Playhouse
From the opening scene of the Glass Menagerie I was hooked.
Tom Wingfield, played excellently by Chris New, opens the action with his first of many narrations. We are quickly introduced to his devoted but overbearing mum, Amanda Wingfield, played completley convincingly by Susannah Harker and the equally brilliant Amy Trigg as Tom’s disabled sister Laura.
The most autobiographical of Tennessee Williams’ plays, The Glass Menagerie tells the tale of the Wingfield family, whose father abandoned them years ago, struggling to make ends meet and seemingly going nowhere.
Amanda is obsessed with finding a gentleman caller for Laura and is thrilled when Tom brings his work friend Jim O’Connor (again played excellently by Daniel Donskoy) home for dinner but all is not as it seems.
Despite the fact that the play takes place only in the Wingfield’s home and on the fantastically staged fire escape, the audience is taken on a journey.
The brilliant character portrayals and accents made it feel at times as though the audience were looking through the window of the Wingfield’s home.
See the play at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday March 26. Clicke here or visit www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk for tickets and information.