“The Glass Managerie”

Last weekend I took part in a small production of “The Glass Managerie” at my school. I did the lights and sound. I have always had an interest in backstage work and still do. When the play “The Glass Managerie” was chosen I had no reaction because I didn’t know what it was. When we did the first read-through I was incredibly bored with it. I even saw the movie but couldn’t watch the whole thing without being bored to death. When it came to the actual performances, I began to finally see it in a new light.

The cast and setting are pretty simple: a mother and her son and daughter live in a small New York City apartment in some early decade. The son, Tom, is the only one with a job and is paying the rent and bills for the apartment that his family lives in. The daughter, Laura, is somewhat crippled and has lived a sheltered and awkward life so far. The mother, Amanda, is an old woman abandoned by her husband and is always on the case of Tom.

That was all I saw in the play: just those three people talking until one night a visitor comes and he just talks a lot and leaves. After repeat viewings and practices I finally saw some great significances in the story, mostly relating to Tom. I also find my mother to be slightly similar to the mother in the play.

Tom was trapped in his situation: he was forced to pay the bills and do so by working in a lousy warehouse. He had no room to move ahead with his dreams or anything. He also couldn’t just abandon his mother and sister, so he chose to be grumpy all the time. The play happens around the point where he finally has had enough and blows up on his mother. While most of the play dragged on, it was the major parts that stuck out to me: Tom was stuck, Laura was even worse off with her shy qualities and low self-esteem, and Amanda was crazy.

Clearly I can’t relate or figure out Amanda in any way. I just find her annoying, but I know there is something deeper there. Laura just doesn’t seem to have anything going for her, and she doesn’t help the issue at all by being shy and whatnot. Tom has the most going for him quality-wise, but is tied down by the responsibility for his family.

What makes me love Tom even more is that the performance by my friend was utterly amazing. Overall I enjoyed it in the production in the end and had fun with my friends. This is a lousy conclusion and I apologize but…

Tags: glass managerie, backstage