American classic The Glass Menagerie opens at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold

Sep 17 2009 by Michael Green, Flintshire Chronicle

One of the most acclaimed dramas of the American stage is being unveiled at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold prior to a tour of Wales.

The Glass Menagerie is Tennessee Williams’s first great play, launching the career of a writer whose work includes A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Rose Tattoo.

Kate Wasserberg, who came to Mold from The Finborough in London as director of new plays earlier this year, directs the production.

The Glass Menagerie is the most conspicuously biographical of all his dramas – an emotional and personal portrayal of his troubled youth.

Amanda is a genteel Southern housewife, deserted by her husband, struggling to raise her two children and haunted by memories of the past when she was a desirable young woman who entertained 17 gentleman callers in a single afternoon.

Now, fearing for the future, she is infuriated by the attitude of her son Tom – a dreamer who feels trapped by working in a factory, and frustrated by daughter Laura’s inability to come to terms with a minor disability and crippling shyness.

All hopes are fixed on finding a gentleman caller for Laura, whose only consolation is her glass menagerie – a collection of fragile model animals.

When Tom invites Jim, a friend from the factory, home for dinner dreams and reality collide with disastrous consequences.

Comic and deeply moving, The Glass Menagerie is a heartbreaking family drama and a poetic examination of the pain of rejection.

The claustrophobia of the apartment, so realistically represented on the stage, mirrors the St Louis home where Williams and his sister Rose had their own collection of glass animals.

Wasserberg directs her second production in Mold following the success of A History of Falling Things by James Graham last season.

Teresa Banham plays Amanda. Her theatre work includes The Jacobean Season in Stratford and London for the RSC, True Love Lies for the Royal Exchange Manchester and she won Best Actress at the Manchester Evening News and London Fringe awards for Anna Karenina with Shared Experience.

Lisa Diveney, a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, plays Laura. Her stage work includes John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar Warehouse.

Hywel John plays Tom. His recent work includes Rupert Goold’s highly acclaimed production of Macbeth at Chichester, West End and Broadway and the hit Channel 4 comedy The IT Crowd.

Sam Massey, playing Jim, has recently appeared in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men production of Romeo and Juliet and in Ladies Night at Oldham Coliseum.

The Glass Menagerie can be seen in the Emlyn Williams Theatre until October 10. Ring the box office on 0870 330 3565 or visit www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk.