PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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Menagerie holds a mirror up to nature
The Glass Menagerie
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
4/5
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
OFTEN described as a “memory” play, Tennessee Williams locates the action of The Glass Menagerie in Saint Louis on the eve of WWII.
But in director Ellen McDougall’s revival, the temporal context has been removed to demonstrate the universality of the play’s themes, with the action contained within an empty black box nestling over a trench of water.
The dysfunctional family in Williams’s play are thus isolated from the rest of society, while the suggestiveness of the staging symbolises their stagnation, with the stark design and unforgiving lighting drawing the audience close to the action and the tensions between the characters.
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