The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Brian Hohlfeld
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
August 19, 2021
Brenda Currin, Bradley James Tejeda
Photo by ProPhotoSTL.com
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
The Glass Menagerie calls itself a “memory play”, and much of it is not-so-subtly based on the life of its playwright, Tennessee Williams. For their headline production this year, Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis has taken the “memory” aspect even further than usual. By incorporating a Central West End apartment building in which Williams once lived, and staging the play outside, director Brian Hohlfeld and the creative team, along with an excellent cast, are able to take advantage of the historic location to help set the tone and period atmosphere.
The overall tone is affected greatly by the setting, with Dunsi Dai’s superbly realized set providing the ideal backdrop for this haunting, emotional and evocative production. The lighting by Catherine Adams and sound by Kareem Deanes, along with detailed period-specific costumes by Michele Siler, are also exactly on-point, lending much to the storytelling. Every expression and word of dialogue is clear, as is the feeling of the St. Louis of days gone by. Atmospheric music that’s supposed to be emanating from records on the Victrola or wafting in from the (in-story) dance hall across the alley helps to maintain the overall heightened sense of longing and hoping for something better for this family consisting of faded Southern belle Amanda Wingfield (Brenda Currin) and her adult children, the shy, socially awkward and physically challenged Laura (Elizabeth Teeter), and the restless writer Tom (Bradley James Tejeda), who wishes to focus more on his writing and explore the world beyond St. Louis and the drudgery of his job at a shoe factory. The story, which leads up to a fateful dinner with a much-anticipated “Gentleman Caller” named Jim (Chauncy Thomas), is told as a set of memories recounted by an older Tom, as he reflects on his family’s situation and everyone’s dealing with events of the past as well as hopes and fears for the future.
The staging is adapted to the set especially well, with the outdoor setting and especially the real fire escapes working ideally for the story, and the performances are remarkable. Tejeda’s Tom is a constant presence even when he’s not on stage, and his perspective paints a vivid picture of the sense of growing longing and desperation among the various characters. The overall family dynamic is on clear display, from anger and resentment, to some genuinely affectionate moments, as Tom truly cares for the well-being of his sister and, occasionally, his mother. The family scenes are especially memorable, with outstanding performances from Currin as the regretful, sometimes overbearing Amanda, and Teeter as the wistful, painfully shy Laura, who struggles with her own insecurities and everyone else’s expectations for her. Thomas is also strong as the personable, cheerful Jim, who forms a believable connection with Teeter’s Laura in some of the most captivating scenes in the play. This is a highly emotional play, and all of the performers convey those emotions truthfully and with power.
This play, when done well, is one of those shows that can stay with a person for a while after they’ve seen it, like a vivid, lingering memory. And this production at TFSTL is done remarkably well. Sitting out in the open space behind the Tennessee apartment building in the CWE, the audience is put into the world of The Glass Menagerie, and with this cast and that stunning set and production values, it’s a world well worth visiting.
Chauncy Thomas, Elizabeth Teeter
Photo by ProPhotoSTL.com
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis is presenting The Glass Menagerie at The Tennessee until August 29, 2021
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