North West Theatre

The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams
30 Jul 10 to 03 Nov 10
Theatre by the Lake

A cramped tenement apartment in 1930s St Louis: a mother clinging frantically to her memories of Southern Belle gentility; a son, a poet with a job in a warehouse, whose only escape is the movies; a daughter as fragile as a piece of her own glass collection and a gentleman caller…

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In the intimate setting of the Keswick theatre’s Studio, the power of Williams’ autobiographical memory play is somehow enhanced... Maggie Tagney presents... a finely tuned portrayal of a faded Southern belle fearing for her future... Vanessa Johnson demonstrates a heartbreaking ability to blossom from perceived failure to a fragile beauty... four of the very finest performances to be seen in the theatre’s 2010 Summer Season and Ian Forrest’s outstanding production allows the players fully to explore these complex characters...
The Stage
The excellent design team rise to the challenge, providing a wonderfully evocative studio setting... Elizabeth Wright’s captivating design of ‘blue roses’ wallpaper... Maggie Tagney as Amanda dominates the action, swinging from cottonwool reminiscence to self-interested fury in an instant... Vanessa Johnson as Laura gives us a truly pathetic victim... James Hogg is also completely convincing as the well-meaning and self-satisfied Jim... Adam O’Brien’s Tom is often in the background of his own story... imaginatively and sensitively handled by director Ian Forrest, who brings out its toughness as well as its tenderness, and as a result is well worth seeing.
What's On Stage (Rating: 4/5)
...one of the great works of one of America's greatest playwrights with some beautifully composed scenes and some distinctive and memorable characters... James Hogg as an amiable and enthusiastic Jim and Vanessa Johnson's intense but subtle and thoroughly believable Laura... Maggie Tagney gives a very strong performance as Amanda... Elizabeth Wright's evocative set that makes good use of levels... a powerful production of a classic play with a very strong cast that is one of the highlights of the Theatre by the Lake summer season.
British Theatre Guide