Preview: The Glass Menagerie, Alma Tavern Theatre

The Alma Tavern Theatre’s resident company Schoolhouse Productions return this November with Tennessee Williams’ great, poignant family drama.

Set in the dream-like world of memory, The Glass Menagerie harkens back to the Old South with Williams’ signature touch of desperation and nostalgia.

Abandoned by her husband, Amanda Wingfield comforts herself with recollections of her earlier life when she was persued by all men who saw her. Tom, suffocated by his mother’s loneliness, escapes their cramped apartment for a movie theatre every night to immerse himself in adventures never taken. Laura, the shy and crippled daughter, has only her glass menagerie of animals and her memories.

Rehearsals for ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at the Alma Tavern Theatre.
Top pic: Anna Friend. This and all other pics: Holly Newton

Desperate to find her daughter a husband, Amanda forces Tom to invite a ‘gentleman caller’ for dinner, but when the gentleman arrives the fragile dreams of all three are shattered – with consequences they may never escape.

We grabbed a chat with producer and co-director Holly Newton.

The Glass Menagerie is very much of its time and place – and yet remains popular and universal. Why so, do you think?
I think the themes of the play – the desire to fit in and be accepted, the need for adventure and life-long fulfillment – are things that will never stop having importance within our society. With acronyms like FOMO and YOLO coursing through social media today, it shows that this is something that ‘s just as relevant now as it was back in the Forties when it was written, and the early Thirties when the play is set.
There is also Tennessee Williams’ stunning writing, which adds to its timelessness. His understanding of family dynamics, and the delicate balance between rage and frustration and unconditional love and devotion is universal.

Tom introduces the action as a ‘memory play’ based on his recollections of his mother and sister. He also cautions the audience that what they see may not be precisely what happened. What’s the significance of this memory framing device?
This is something we’ve grappled with a lot in rehearsals: the action of the play is not a true depiction of events, but is how Tom remembers his mother and sister.
He is able to view his sister as a near-perfect person: his mother, on the other hand, he can demonise and make ridiculous. It also allows him to put the events, and therefore his motives, into context as a bid for excusing his behaviour and getting the audience on side.
Dramatically, it’s a great tool for creating conversation around his work as you can forever wonder about what the characters ‘really’ would have been like, and how he ‘really’ would have responded to what happened – whether his mother was actually as controlling as he portrays and whether his reactions were as justified as he makes out.

It seems a sad play, about these lives almost frozen in aspic, devastated by shyness, physical disability, financial difficulties and abandonment. Other than that sadness, does Williams have other emotions to evoke or points to make? 
It’s funny you say that, as we’ve had such a blast creating it in rehearsals and have found many humorous moments with the piece. It’ll be very interesting to see how the audience respond to it and whether some aspects – Amanda’s ridiculousness, for example – come as light relief, as we have seen it in rehearsal.
But, yes, while the overview of the piece is that the characters live stunted lives, overshadowed with sadness, I think something that should be taken from it are its lessons. Regret is something that I take from it, but in the sense that when you regret something where all is not yet lost, and as an individual there is time for the pursuit of change, time for atonement – something which, unfortunately, Tom never opts for.

How is the rehearsal and staging process going? I guess that, for example, the staging challenges are relatively few, but that the emotional demands are quite high…? 
As with any shows at the Alma, the main staging issue is that of space; but with all of our other shows this has been to our benefit as the tiny stage actually adds to the claustrophobic elements of the piece and adds a great amount of tension. We always have a lot of fun during the rehearsal process, and we try to keep the right balance; but this is a play we all care deeply about – and we have come to love the characters intensely. We want to make sure that we do it justice.

The Glass Menagerie Nov 13-24, Alma Tavern Theatre. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.getawriggleon.com/guides/bristol/alma-tavern-theatre/events

Read more: Preview: Clybourne Park, Bristol Old Vic