BWW Reviews: Trinity Rep Stages Inventive, Highly Interpretative GLASS MENAGERIE

"Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart."

These most intriguing lines appear in the opening stage directions of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. In his production notes, Williams further expresses hope that directors will take unexpected, nonrealistic approaches to this work and so bring an audience closer to truth through art. Trinity Repertory Company and director Brian Mertes clearly take Williams' words to heart in the staging of The Glass Menagerie now playing at TRC's Chace Theater.

Menagerie is a deeply autobiographical piece. Its characters and themes echo Williams' experiences in the family home: an overbearing, demanding mother; an adored, though mentally delicate older sister; and a son's desire to break free from monotonous, menial labor to purse his artistic gifts and talents. Trinity's unique take on Williams' beloved play relies heavily on unconventional presentation while engaging all the senses, providing ample opportunity for post-show reflection and personal interpretation.

Eugene Lee's abstract set design contributes greatly to this aim. Industrial-style lighting and exposed ductwork surround a versatile central staging area; hanging plastic strips and gauzy fabric panels slide in and out to separate background activity from the focus of the main stage, while a bed elevated on pulleys transforms into several different locations as the play unfolds. Dan Scully's atmospheric lighting and Broken Chord's creative sound work also help to set the scene, whether pairing together to transition from the past to the present or to outwardly depict the deepest turmoil of a character's emotional state.

Trinity's innovations also extend into the company's color- and age-blind casting. Brian McEleney stars as Tom Wingfield, the central character in and narrator of The Glass Menagerie. Tom is in his early twenties according to the script's timeline; this production allows an older Tom to not only look back over his memories and regrets, but to actively relive them. The experiences of his formative years have clearly marked Tom, and Mertes' staging explores that to the full.

Williams wrote that Tom, as narrator, is "an undisguised convention of the play" and therefore was to take "whatever license with dramatic convention as is convenient to his purposes." With that direction in mind, McEleney's physical appearance and vocal inflections have a chameleon-like quality that alter depending on his character's place in the timeline and perspective on his memories. As young Tom, McEleney stands taller and his voice is commanding and deeper; reflecting back on the past, the aging Tom liltingly recalls his mother's emphasis on female beauty and courtly gentlemen while applying eye shadow, lipstick, and mascara. At the play's end, he dons a leisure suit and dances through his final lines, embracing the disco spirit of the 1970s. Interestingly, Tom never once appears on stage in his Merchant Marine uniform.

The audience witnesses Tom's truest face during his interactions with his sister, Laura. In these moments, McEleney brilliantly depicts the heartbreak and anguish that have haunted his character through the decades, and he works wonderfully well with second-season resident actor, Mia Ellis. Their scenes together are compelling and full of tenderness.

Ellis is simply lovely as Laura, bringing artlessness and fragility to her performance. There is great depth in Ellis' portrayal. She plays more intense moments, such as the severely shy Laura's near breakdown at opening the door for a dinner guest, with thoughtfulness and respect; Ellis also shines in quieter scenes, such as her silent, painstaking arrangement of Laura's glass animals on a lighted overhead projector. When Laura unexpectedly encounters her high school crush at a family dinner, Ellis allows her to blossom beautifully - slowly at first, then with growing confidence and enthusiasm - under her "gentleman caller's" attentions. Ellis has a gorgeous singing voice, too, which is highlighted during Phillip Roebuck's first-act compositions.

Anne Scurria rounds out the Wingfield family as matriarch Amanda. Scurria fully captures Amanda's domineering nature, and theatergoers can well appreciate her children's exasperation with her continual nitpicking and relentless observation. Mertes has Scurria deliver several of her most superior lines while standing on top of a chair, further enhancing the oppressive personality looming over the Wingfield household. Still, for all that Amanda obsesses over her glory days as the county belle, and in spite of her near total self-absorption, Scurria brings some gentler moments to her portrayal that suggest her concern for children is real, if muddled and misdirected in expression.

Jim O'Connor, the much-longed-for gentleman caller, is a study in contrasts, but Dennis Kozee presents him in a balanced light. O'Connor can be prideful and yet sensitive, pompous yet charming, tactless yet sincere; in the end, Kozee strips away the most contrived airs of O'Connor's youthful posturing to create a charming and likeable character.

Phillip Roebuck's music is woven throughout the production and it serves as commentary on the developing narrative. Roebuck is in near constant motion across the stage, performing his compositions on a variety of instruments ranging from strings to the keyboard to iron bells and chimes.

The Glass Menagerie plays Trinity Repertory Company's Elizabeth and Malcolm Chace Theater through March 29, 2015. Ticket prices range from $30-$71. Tickets are available online at www.trinityrep.com, by phone (401) 351-4242, or by visiting the box office at 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI.

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Photo by Clyde Media Productions

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