The Glass Menagerie by Ebie Quinn

The Glass Menagerie by Ebie Quinn

The Glass Menagerie, as performed by Trinity Rep, was insane in all senses of the word. It was insanely weird, insanely random, and mostly insanely entertaining. The insanity began as soon as the audience entered the theater.

The set itself was very non-traditional. It consisted of a platform with a few random objects, a bed and a piano and a few other things set up around the stage. From the audience’s point of view, you could easily see the lighting/sound box which was directly next to the stage. You could also see all the lights and the bare bones of the theatre. The set and costume changes themselves were also questionable. The show makes no effort to hide the crew members. They walk on stage and do whatever needed to be done, seemingly as if they are part of the performance. This is also different from many shows I’ve seen, and if anything, it only adds to the chaos.

The play itself was about a mother and her son and daughter. The play is told from the perspective of the son, who explains at the beginning that this story is his memories, and they will probably be cloudy, confusing, and exaggerated. The son and daughter are adults in their early twenties, but they appear to still be living with their mother. The son works at a shoe factory, providing for his family and the daughter is emotionally and physically fragile. She lives at home collecting glass trinkets after dropping out of high school and business collage. The husband isn’t in the picture and the mother is hell-bent on finding a “gentlemen caller” for her daughter. It is clear from the beginning that this isn’t going to be a traditional production. The son and mother are loud and pretty crazy. They are constantly standing on things and yelling. To give you an idea of the randomness of the show I’ll provide a few details. Believe it or not, these details taken out of context make about as much sense as they do in the context of the show. There are random paper flowers scattered around the stage for no reason. At one point there is a blown up giraffe floating around. The actors pretend the piano is a fire escape, and subsequently stand on top of it. With no warning the scene quickly transitions into a weird musical number. These are only the details that stood out to me, there is so much more disorder in the show. It is done purposeful because it is supposed to be stream of consciousness/memory. It is up to the audience members to accept the version of reality the actors present. In this production, the world works in crazy ways, and you have to just go along with it.       

        At the beginning of the production I was taken aback and thoroughly thrown off. What I was expecting I don’t know, but it certainly wasn’t this off-kilter show filled with crazy set changes, nonsensical soliloquies, and random objects. I had trouble following the show at first. I thought that the actors were trying to convey a larger message and theme to the audience, but I couldn’t quite get at what it was. The symbolism of seemingly random lines, objects and musical numbers was lost on me and I felt frustrated. I even had trouble following the story itself because it was interrupted with so many erratic lines and scenes. Despite these oddities, once I began to get used to the style of the show I found the story, and the way in which they told it, to be compelling. By intermission I was engrossed in the storyline and my own curiosity as to what they would say or do next. That being said, the confusing things were ultimately distracting and outweighed the story line and the actors performances. I thought that the dream-like memory state attempted to explore an interesting concept, how a story is affected by someone’s personal memories. It could have been quite successful, but I think the director took this idea to far and it ended up being detrimental to the shoes overall quality.

        The craziness of this show was somewhat balanced by stunning actors. The production was bold and risky, and without the help of brilliant committed actors, it would have failed miserably. The Glass Menagerie featured four actors each with a different important role. Their roles were all filled with high emotion, and the actors had the audience laughing one second, and the next focusing in on a serious scene. It was a skilled performance and it impressed me immensely. They were the highlight of the show and I felt that their skills could have been utilized even better if the set wasn’t so distracting.

        I recommend this to anyone with an open mind. It is not ideal for young children, not because the content was inappropriate, but because it would go over their head. It is one of the stranger plays I have ever witnessed. If you choose to watch this I advise you to allow yourself to open up to the craziness and consider new ideas. But, if you are looking for a more traditional piece of theatre, this production is not for you.