THEATRE Linenhall to stage Tennessee Williams classic

Tennessee Williams classic comes to Castlebar


Going out
Ciara Moynihan

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the American playwright Tennessee Williams, a new production of his classic play ‘The Glass Menagerie’ will be staged by Town Hall Theatre Galway and TheatreCorp at The Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, next month.
The play tells the story of Tom Wingfield, a son longing to escape from his stifling home, where his genteel mother, Amanda, worries about the future prospects of his shy, lame sister, Laura. As the family works hard to survive, the mother struggles to free herself of a dependent daughter, whilst she uses her own fantasies of a glamorous past in the Deep South to keep her own reality bearable. Her son meanwhile tries desperately to keep his own dreams alive.
Many have speculated that ‘The Glass Menagerie’ is more than a little autobiographical, reflecting the characters and themes that populated the playwright’s own life, including his guilt-ridden efforts to escape his own mother in order to pursue his artistic destiny. Williams also had a frail sister, though some believe the character in the play, Laura Wingfield, references his own introvert nature and obsessive focus on one aspect of life (glass animals for Laura, writing in Williams’s case).
‘The Glass Menagerie’ was first staged in New York in 1945, where it enjoyed a successful Broadway run. In 1950 it was turned into a major motion picture by Irving Rapper, starring Gertrude Lawrence, Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Ann Tyrrell and Arthur Kennedy. The film was subsequently remade by Paul Newman in 1987, this time starring Joanne Woodward, John Malkovich, Karen Allen, and James Naughton. Commenting on the former, which had an implied happy ending grafted onto it, as was the style of American films from that era, Williams said it was the worst adaptation of his work. Other works by Williams that have made the big screen include ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’.
The new stage production by Town Hall Theatre Galway and TheatreCorp is directed by Max Hafler, with a cast that includes veteran Abbey actor Maria McDermottroe, with Marcus Lamb (DruidSynge), TG4 regular Sean O Meallaigh (Ros na Rún, Seachtar na Casca, Rasaí na Gaillimhe) and Ionia Ní Chroinín (Moonfish Theatre Co).

‘The Glass Menagerie’ will be shown at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Tuesday, March 8. Curtains up at 8pm.