“A Unicorn without Its Horn”
I was 18 and very naïve when I auditioned, unsuccessfully, for
my first college production. It was The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee
Williams’s 1943 classic, now being revived, disappointingly, at the Wild
Project under the joint direction of the ubiquitous Austin Pendleton and the less well-known Peter Bloch. Not long
after, I did the Gentleman Caller scene for a student director in his directing
class but I was far too green to get a handle on this seemingly simple but actually
quite difficult role. Over the years, I’d learn more and more about the play
and its characters by visiting numerous productions, amateur and professional,
stage and screen.
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| Matt De Rogatis, Alexandra Rose, Ginger Grace. Photos: courtesy of the production. |
However, the frequency of Glass Menagerie productions
has led each new one to seek something special or unique to make it stand out
from the rest. Sometimes, the choices are notoriously odd. Who, for example, if they saw it, can forget the nearly scenery-less
Cherry Jones revival in which Laura made her entrance by emerging from the cushions
of a couch?
The Pendleton-Bloch version, however, neither includes a famous actress nor does much that could be considered particularly unconventional. The lack of the former, in fact, could be considered a plus as it puts the focus back on the character and not the performer, if that’s even possible with such an iconic role. On the other hand, the production's announced intention to offer a "chilling" interpretation to match the Halloween season seems to have been abandoned from the get-go.
The Pendleton-Bloch version, however, neither includes a famous actress nor does much that could be considered particularly unconventional. The lack of the former, in fact, could be considered a plus as it puts the focus back on the character and not the performer, if that’s even possible with such an iconic role. On the other hand, the production's announced intention to offer a "chilling" interpretation to match the Halloween season seems to have been abandoned from the get-go.
The Glass Menagerie opens with Tom (Matt De Rogatis) breaking
the fourth wall to deliver a poetic prologue, reminding us of the social background
by reciting events from the 1930s, telling us that this is a memory play, and noting
the unrealistic nature of what we’re about to see. He even explains that the only
realistic character is the Gentleman Caller (Spencer Scott).
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| Alexandra Rose, Ginger Grace. |
The play is acted at a sloth’s pace in a dimly lit (by Steve Wolf), dully realistic way, with very little of the poetically magical qualities we expect from this play about emotional memory. Each cast member displays respectable acting chops that might have flourished in a more imaginative staging, but the intermissionless (not a wise choice), two-hour production is so grounded in standard realism that the play seems more like William Inge than Tennessee Williams.
In a minor concession to theatrical stylization, most props
are abandoned in favor of mime, a convention used both inconsistently and
distractingly. Cigarettes and newspapers are imaginary, for example, but other
props, like a floral bouquet or candelabra, are not. Similarly, both Tom and
Amanda use Southern accents, albeit different ones, while neither Laura (Alexandra
Rose) nor the Gentleman Caller do, or at least not in a clearly discernible way. Tom's, by the way, makes him sound like a rural rube, the kind that says "sichiyachun" for "situation."
Ginger Grace, an actress new to me, plays Amanda with
intelligence and, like her name, grace, but her performance is so rooted in
naturalistic, everyday behavior that she fails to capture the larger-than-life
qualities with which Williams has imbued this flighty, loquacious,
self-dramatizing creature. She makes a strong impact late in the play when she erupts
angrily toward Tom, but too much else fails to go beyond the ordinary. She may
insist on Laura’s need for “charm” and “vivacity,” but she barely manages to
embody those qualities herself.
Matt De Rogatis is a suitable Tom, bringing passionate
frustration to his encounters with his nagging mother, but he, too, can’t shake
the production’s air of gloomy desperation. A side effect is the notable lack
of the laughter so obvious in the best revivals. In the closing moments, De
Rogatis benefits from the production’s finally incorporating, through lights
and music (by Sean Hagerty), some of the theatrical touches so sorely lacking
until then. We see this in Tom’s famous, final speech (“Blow out your candles, Laura—and
so good-bye”), delivered in an expressive, rhythmic way. Odd as it is, it at least nods toward a sense of poetic performance even though it’s too little
too late.
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| Spencer Scott, Alexandra Rose. |
Like the symbolic figurines that give the play its title, The
Glass Menagerie is a delicate work of art requiring extreme sensitivity in its handling. Lacking that, as in this earnest but flawed revival, it’s
much like Laura’s glass unicorn when its horn breaks off, robbing it of its magic.
The Wild Project
195 E. Third St., NYC
Through October 20
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