Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE at Ritz Theatre Company is a 'Memory Play' that's Memorable

The Glass Menagerie is one of Tennessee Williams' most personal, popular and often-performed plays. The play takes place in St. Louis in the 1930s and revolves around the Wingfield family. Tom Wingfield (played by Taylor Darden) narrates the play and is caught between an obligation to provide for and his desire to escape from his family. His "crippled" and mentally fragile sister Laura (played by Sara Viniar) is introverted and spends her time caring for her collection of miniature glass animal figurines. Tom and Laura's overbearing mother Amanda (played by Lori-Alexio-Howard) lives in the past, often retelling stories from her time as a debutant in Blue Mountain. Amanda fears that her daughter, who has dropped out of a business college, will need to find a husband who can take care of her. While Amanda had a slew of gentlemen callers in her youth, Laura has not shown any interest in men except for her high school crush, the vivacious and exuberant Jim O'Connor (played by Jared Calhoun).

The Glass Menagerie is regularly referred to as a "memory play" meaning that the play is drawn from the narrator's memory. Tom, Laura's brother, is the narrator of this play and in his opening monologue he explains to the audience that "the scene is memory and is therefore non-realistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart. The interior is therefore rather dim and poetic." Tom describes in these lines how, similar to glass, memories are translucent-allowing light (and some revelation) to pass through but not detailed shapes. Tom's hindsight is semi-transparent, and he relives the moments of the play over and over in his mind like the phonograph Laura likes to play on repeat.

True to Tom's opening lines, Ritz's production of the play features a rather dim, poetic setting. Cherry Hill-based designer Jen Donsky created a beautiful and smart set and lighting plot. The stage is raked, leaning slightly toward the audience, with only a few furniture pieces on a rather bare stage. Two large wooden panels hang askew from the flies, lighting up different colors to accent moments in the play. A small end table housing Laura's collection of glass animals sits prominently downstage while the skeleton of a fire escape lies stage left. Donsky's design gives the illusion that this is a memory: everything, though individually realistic, is slightly warped to create a dream-like sensation.

The Glass Menagerie is a script that is relatable, with themes that are universal and defy time. Williams' is most known for writing family and domestic dramas (such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Summer and Smoke) and it is evident in his plays, especially The Glass Menagerie, that he has drawn from situations and people in his own life while writing his works.

It is also evident that this script is very personal to Matthew Weil who directed Ritz's production. Weil in his director's note in the playbill says "In directing this Piece, I have been forced to revisit painful decisions I've made in my lifetime-decisions that damaged my relationship with my own sister, the ensuing regret, and ultimately how we've tried to move forward."

Weil also refers to famous theatre director and SITI Theatre Company founder Anne Bogart in his director's note and her proclamation that making an artistic decision (and in fact any decision) is an act of violence. Weil writes about the fear of making decisions and the regret that can come after a decision is made. Bogart's philosophy of directing and theatre performance has been extremely influential in modern theatre and more about her work and ideas can be found of her blog at http://siti.org/blogs/anne-bogart

Violence and regret play an important role in Williams' script and Ritz's production of The Glass Menagerie. There is a distinct, compelling dichotomy in Williams' text between violence and fragility. Laura is symbol of delicacy. She is mentally insecure, lacks confidence, and is portrayed as "weak" in some senses. Meanwhile, Tom is prone to violent outbursts and has a huge moment of regret at the end of the play.

There is a sense that the world Laura lives in is a fragile illusion. Fragility (and the glass menagerie itself) in Ritz' production acts as a sort of "Chekhov's Gun" (a dramaturgical term meaning that every element of a play is important. When Chekhov included a gun in his play, it was always fired). Laura's glass menagerie is pinnacle to the play. Not only is it the play's namesake, but it holds so much symbolic resonance to the play, specifically the unicorn which Laura notes is her favorite. Donsky set design places the menagerie prominently and permanently on the stage at the forefront of the action, so the audience knows that something bad and violent is bound to happen to it.

Tennessee Williams' plays are a gold-mine for dramatists because there is so much symbolism and poetry in his writing. There is something raw and visceral about Williams' plays that is unique and almost indescribable. Everything in The Glass Menagerie has a dual meaning. The fire escape is Tom's hangout because, like his mentality, it is on the precipice of two worlds: the apartment and the world beyond. The glass unicorn is a symbol for Laura's uniqueness and delicacy. And fire seems to bring it all together-connecting the fire escape, fire's importance in making glass, and the fire from the candles Tom mentions at the end of the play.

Just like many of Williams' plays, the characters tend to live in the past. Amanda cannot let go of her youth, Laura cannot get beyond her limp and inferiority complex from her schooldays, and Tom lives in this haunting memory of the story. Even Jim, the gentleman caller, seems to long for his days in high school when he was a high achiever.

Oddly enough, Williams' uses the movies as an escape for Tom from reality. But if we are to equate for a moment movies and the theatre, then The Glass Menagerie isn't an escae at all. Rather it is a reflective play that motivates the audience to take into consideration their own choices in life, and makes the audience come face to face with regret in an almost cathartic sense.

The Glass Menagerie is very cohesive, with great pacing and is full of exciting moments. Perhaps the most riveting scene in the play comes in the second act when Jim and Laura talk by candlelight (though I admittedly had mild anxiety about the open flames on a non-level stage). Jim has come to have dinner with the Wingfield family, and Amanda is thrilled to have a gentleman caller for her daughter. But Jim is unaware of the family's intentions, and without giving too much of the action away, Laura is left (much like her beloved unicorn) shattered.

The most important glue that holds this production together lies in the actors. They listen to each other and work well together to tell the story. Viniar as Laura has an extremely expressive face, and a lovely timidity; Darden as Tom expertly includes the audience in the story and uses his whole body when acting (contrasting nicely to Viniar's limited mobility portraying a self-conscious character with a limp); Alexio-Howard as their mother Amanda is hysterical; and Calhoun as Jim is very charismatic and likeable.

Ritz's production is thought-provoking, beautifully constructed, and excellently executed. Weil is his directing is very intentional. The Glass Menagerie is a classic that some would approach with trepidation, fearful of making choices that would compromise the tradition of the play. But Weil makes decisions that enhance the storytelling and create not only a visually stunning production, but a play that is heart-wrenching.

Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is playing now through March 31st at Ritz Theatre Company in Haddon Township. For information about the show and to purchase tickets, please visit ritztheatreco.org.

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