THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Writer: Tennessee Williams. Director, translation, design: Nico Scheepers. With Anna-Mart van der Merwe, Carla Smith, Ben Albertyn and Mark Elderkin. Baxter Flipside.
BEVERLEY BROMMERT reviews
Deft transplanting of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie from America’s deep South to the Western Cape, and updating the action from early 20th century to the 1980s, enhance the immediacy of this masterpiece.
Far from appearing contrived, this underscores the timeless truth of the work with unforced simplicity, helped by impeccable ensemble from the quartet of players entrusted with its delivery.
Therein lies the real power of the production: four characters who, despite a surface diversity, are all equally unsympathetic, equally appealing, all equally, intensely, human. There are no leads as such, rather a sobering depiction of frailty both physical and moral. Ensemble is therefore a prerequisite for this work’s impact, and Nico Scheepers has his well chosen cast more than up for the challenge.
Anna-Mart van der Merwe, as the beleaguered matriarch out of touch with reality as she substitutes a hazy utopian past for an unforgiving present, is suitably complex in her characterisation: vulnerable and thoroughly exasperating in her well-intentioned efforts to improve the lot of her children as well as her own.
Mark Elderkin, the visitor on whom so many unrealistic hopes are pinned by this dysfunctional family, offers a magisterial performance as usual; vaguely enigmatic, engaging, but, like his trio of hosts, fundamentally unhappy with his circumstances as he has failed to live up to the promise of his youth, and just as flawed in his ineffectual attempts to do better.
Carla Smith goes from strength to strength in her career as she embraces the role of Laura, disabled daughter and family liability, with conviction. Like her mother, the girl seeks refuge in fantasy as an alternative to the challenges of her unenviable situation. A collection of glass animals as fragile and brittle as herself represents a reality with which she can cope, and like her parent she derives pleasure from illusions, among them a memory of a past crush on a dynamic young man …
More passive victim than heroine, this character is arguably the most difficult of the foursome to portray without succumbing to the pitfall of sentimental trivialisation, and Smith is admirable in conveying her persona’s strengths and weaknesses.
Proud of the calibre achieved by local theatre-makers
Ben Albertyn excels in the role of Tom, narrator/frustrated son/sympathetic brother and rebel desperate to escape an appallingly dreary lifestyle. Moments of tenderness towards his sister and occasional bouts of remorse in dealing with his infuriating mother offset a rage that is expressed intermittently in callous cruelty, as he pursues his own brand of escapism in frequenting the cinema: another life wasted in mediocrity.
Failure, lack of self-esteem and the pursuit of an elusive fulfilment are the factors driving these unheroic individuals on their laboured progress through life, a scenario with which most people can identify.
Such an intimate play would normally invite an intimate venue, but in this case another tour de force is creating the right setting for the drama on a spacious stage.
That of the Baxter Flipside is craftily manipulated into the illusion of theatre-in-the round through audience placement on both sides of the stage, and the performers are directed so as to generate impartial complicity with all spectators. The only downside is an overwhelming use of smoke as Tom lights one cigarette after another.
This is a production that makes one proud of the calibre achieved by local theatre-makers. Presented in English, it has another run in Afrikaans from 8 August which promises to equal the brilliance of this version.
What: The Glass Menagerie / Speelgoed van glas
Where and when: Baxter from 31 July to 16 August 2025
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
