Antaeus Theatre Company is closing its 2024/2025 season with an excellent production of Tennessee Williams' classic The Glass Menagerie, directed by Carolyn Ratteray, and starring Emily Goss as Laura Wingfield, Josh Odsess-Rubin as Tom Wingfield, Gigi Bermingham as Amanda Wingfield, and Alex Barlas as Jim O'Connor. This extraordinary cast brings the struggling family and its gentleman caller to life with riveting performances.
Some memories won't leave us alone. They demand to be replayed, to be worked through. Poets and playwrights have an advantage in that regard, being able to tackle these memories through their writing, as we presume the character Tom does in Tennessee Williams' play. And as Tennessee Williams himself seems to have done with this very play, the character Tom standing in for the playwright (Thomas was Tennessee's real name). Tom functions not just as a character but as the narrator, as our guide into the story of this family. And as memory is not always to be trusted, so too our narrator cannot be completely relied upon, and he tells us so straight away. "Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve." We in the audience become immersed in a memory that is not our own, and we are conscious of the memory itself being manipulated. In part, that is because Tom tells us so at the beginning. But also it is because of the set design, the way words themselves are an integral part of the set. Words cover the floor of the stage, as well as two backdrops, so that the action takes place within a frame of language, of the written word. By the way, the words are such that we can't quite read them; rather, it is the sense of words, the idea of language that surrounds these characters. This also gives Amanda's line "I can see the handwriting on the wall" another layer. The scenic designer is Angela Balogh Calin. The other element that dominates the set is the large portrait that hangs from the ceiling upstage center, a portrait of Tom and Laura's absent father, a man who is referred to many times but who does not appear. His portrait gives us an idea of where Tom himself might eventually be heading.
The opening moments of the play, even before the first line is spoken, give us the sense that Tom is reliving a memory. When he sees his sister Laura enter, it is as if she's not fully there. He can't reach her, and in fact, can only reach her glass menagerie, which is placed downstage center, so that it is easily visible to all in the audience. It is an interesting moment, for the glass collection is more real than his sister, more tangible, functioning as a representation of her. So that moment carries with it the idea that this glass collection has outlasted his sister. It's a wonderfully unsettling way to introduce us to their troubled world. Tom then joins his mother and sister at the table, thus joining the action of the story, entering memory. And though it is his memory, his mother Amanda immediately takes over. What's interesting is that she herself becomes lost in memory as she describes the gentlemen callers she once received many years earlier. Her memories within his memory lead to one of her most vivacious moments. That itself is intriguing, because Tom is coming to grips with a memory, whereas Amanda seems happiest reliving her past, a past she wishes to recreate for her daughter, to give to her as perhaps her greatest gift, perhaps her only gift. All three of these people seem lost, damaged, and ready to scream.
Another way in which the father is present in their lives is through the records he has left behind, records that Laura enjoys playing. Apart from collecting glass figurines, it is the only thing she has been doing with her life. Early on, Tom comments on how memory always seems to happen to music, so it is interesting that the absent character is the one who essentially provides that music. In a way, he is more present in their lives than they themselves seem to be. The phonograph player is located upstage near his portrait, adding to the sense that he is providing the music. And there is the subtle question of whether these memories could be relived without those records, again adding to the importance of the absent father. Tom himself is often absent from the home, going to the movies night after night, though Amanda does not believe that is truly how he spends his time. Josh Odsess-Rubin is wonderful throughout the performance, but is particularly good as he imagines a great criminal life for himself, jokingly creating one which might very well be a character he picked up from the movies. It is a time when he imagines a more exciting life for himself. What is especially interesting about that scene is that there is a moment at the start of that speech where it seems he is considering telling his mother the truth, opening up to her. But then he gets rolling, and takes great delight in the yarn he spins.
There is a good amount of comedy to this play. I often forget just how many laughs this play provides. Many of these laughs come in the interactions between Amanda and Tom, and in Tom's reactions to her. "Her not speaking, is that such a tragedy?" he quips to Laura about their mother. And Amanda's line about the future becoming the present, the present becoming the past, and "the past turns into everlasting regret" receives a strong laugh, as does her line to Laura, "This is the prettiest you will ever be." She means it kindly, but there is an unmistakable harshness to it, though perhaps that is because we can sense the truth in it. Laura is left alone for a brief time then to study her image in the mirror (we in the audience are in essence her mirror), a wonderful moment. It is a moment of possibilities, before the reality of the gentleman caller enters.
Jim O'Connor, the gentleman caller, is an interesting character, and while Tom had earlier described him as "the most realistic character in the play," we do get the impression that he is acting a part. Having studied public speaking, he seems to be trying out some of what he has learned, and also not quite realizing the sort of dysfunction he has stepped into. But when things seem to be going right for Laura and him, there is an almost magical tone to the action. That is, once Laura has finally given herself to the moment, trusting in it, in its reality, in her part in it. And that makes us feel that this might be her only chance. And so there is a sad beauty to the scene. She is especially delightful when she tells Jim, regarding her glass figurines, "I haven't heard any arguments among them." It is then she is at her lightest, and she even takes some joy in having told a joke. It is in that moment especially that we in the audience want for her what Amanda wants for her. Though there is much comedy to the play, there is still a darkness that runs through it. Early in the play, Amanda asks, "What is going to become of us? What is the future?" It's actually a funny moment, yet at the end of the play, we may be wondering that very thing. The play's lack of optimism for the future really speaks to us in these dark days of our own. This is a production that will stay with us, playing in our own memories long after the lights go up.
The Glass Menagerie runs through June 2, 2025. See the theatre's website for the complete schedule. There is one brief intermission. The theatre is located at 110 East Broadway in Glendale, California.
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