Theater review: The Glass Menagerie
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Summer in Philadelphia is becoming not just Shakespeare season, but the time for classics, as demonstrated by GoKash Productions’ Death of a Salesman (through Sunday) and Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company’s The Glass Menagerie.
The latter, Tennessee Williams’ first big success, receives an enjoyable — albeit puzzling — revival directed by Joshua Browns in the suitably intimate Off Broad Street Theatre.
Enjoyable, because the performances are clear and sincere, led by Allen Radway’s Tom. He’s great at reacting as Tom in the moment — trapped with his mother and sister in their small apartment — and simultaneously watching from the future, haunted by memories. E. Ashley Izard gives a focused, restrained performance as Tom’s overbearing mother Amanda, but Isa St. Clair overplays sister Laura’s crippling shyness and fear while Laura’s actual limp is no impediment to dashing around the stage. Jamison Foreman’s Gentleman Caller, whom Tom calls the play’s most realistic character, is detailed and believable.
Puzzling, because the production lacks the magic and poetry of Williams’ words. “Being a memory play,” Tom says early on, “it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory, everything seems to happen to music.” This production feels tethered to bleak reality. Laura’s titular glass figurines receive no special light, and the nightclub beckoning Tom is feebly suggested by a pulsing red special.
The play’s too good to suffer from CCTC’s muted approach, and rejecting Williams’ invitation to portray the memories that haunt Tom when, years later, he sees “pieces of colored glass ... like bits of a shattered rainbow” feels like a missed opportunity.
✚ Through Aug. 24, $20, Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company at the Off Broad Street Theatre, 1636 Sansom St., 610-202-7878, commonwealthclassictheatre.org.
