I have yet to see The Glass Menagerie at ATC - but of course I have been hearing about it, and reading about it. And waiting - hoping to hear the insight from a reviewer or a spectator of what this play and production is. I have heard mostly "good" things. And those good things are mostly about the set, and the manner of presentation of the events of the play. But I haven't heard about the "soul" of the play - the reasons its a brilliant story, the subtle specifics that can only live, come to life, in the thoughts, feelings and actions of the actors. I haven't heard the how and why. Not yet anyway. The logic and reason hasn't come forth. That is not to say its not in this production or doesn't happen. But I haven't heard or read of it yet.
What do I mean by this?
First of all, I am as Meyerholdian/Vakhtongovian as they come. Give me a few proscenium servants and the back wall anyday! If you open the window all the better too! It other words, I have nothing against what people think of or consider to be "theatrical" or "non-realistic" etc.
I'm all for it.
But here is one of the questions of the play - when Tom, the narrator, says "I give you truth disguised as an illusion," what does he mean by that and more importantly WHY does he say it? Why does he want to represent and present his story that way? This was (as it should be) one of the lines, ideas, discussed by the director and written about within various articles. Yet the nuts and bolts of it were never mentioned in those articles- that why? And isn't that the fist question you learn to ask as a director/actor? Journalist? Why? In this case its not to celebrate the joys of theatre and theatricality and non-realism. It has to be specific, and with cause. The answer to this why is simple - but comes with complex and meaningful history. When he (Tom/Tennessee) has been obvious with the truth before, he has had the shit kicked out of him! emotionally and physically! Tom/Tennessee is shy, scared of people in that sense now. He needs to tell this story and he needs it to be completely honest and truthful - but he is reserved, trepid in his approach. And so he chooses to put it the context of "truth disguised as an illusion." He doesn't want the shit beat out of him again! He wants/needs to ease into it all, soften it so to speak. And so he says "truth disguised as an illusion." That makes us all pause and think - allowing him to slip in all the truth and get away unharmed.
Ok, that's one part. Tom/Tennessee as shy, afraid, trepid, insecure - but desperately needing to tell the truth, somehow, someway. The follow-up question to that is why does he need to tell the truth? What is it that happens that makes this story relevant? The answer is his sister was sacrificed in such a way as to makes him become who he is, makes him become truthful and daring as a person, an artist. Without that sacrifice, he might not, in fact its doubtful, ever would have gotten to that. Its a sad but brilliant story. And it has many layers of depth and meaning and intrigue.
Here's a catch, or rather an insight, perhaps just a fact, of interest. In one draft of this play, Jim (the Gentleman Caller) and Laura, make a second date! And Amanda (Tom's mother) tells him that he will always have a home to come home to! A happy and hopeful ending! That's how Tennessee wrote the play prior to learning the dire reality and consequences of his sister Rose's lobotomy. But something didn't sit right with Tennessee about that. He couldn't leave it that way. He had to tell the truth, to reveal it. And along with that, find a way to proceed in life, that somehow preserves the love, displays the guilt, and honors his sisters life, her fate, and speaks to who and what we are as humans. He needed, wanted to live the truth for the rest of his life, somehow, someway, difficult and risky as that might be - for the alternative to that, the lies and the disguises, is much, much worse. And so he changed the play, to the truth. And in the play, through confrontation, Tom/Tennessee shatters the illusions, the games, the distractions created by his mother and society and says this is who I am, this is who we are, and this is what the world is. He cries out that his sister was sacrificed so that we might know the truth - (biblical like that even).
I haven't heard or read of this shy, scared young man, attempting to tell the truth to us. I haven't heard how he would approach the audience with trepidation at first, and whether or not he does, or would, develop a trust with and for this same audience, a compassion, an understanding through the means he uses to tell his story. I hope it happens in this production. I hope it does. Its a fragile process - like a glass menagerie. You can be distracted by its form and beauty - like a glass menagerie. You can lose yourself in its glamour, its light - like a glass menagerie. You can wander lost its fantasy and illusion - like a glass menagerie. Or you can see and find it for what it is...really is...love to cruelty turned back to love.
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