By Dalila Calisolo —
In scene from 13 to November 22, 2015 al Theatre of ’ Angelin Rome, "The glass menagerie", one of the masterpieces of the great American playwright Tennessee Williams.
The staging is of Molière's Company, protagonist Pamela Villoresiflanked by Elisa Silvestrin, Maurizio Palladino and Alberto Caramel, for the directed by Giuseppe Abidi.
The Roman representation of the drama comes at a time when the theatre in Italy would need input for the value of what it represents and who represents it. In this case, very interesting cast and equally qualified Director. It is hoped greatly that input, all the quality theatre and particularly for that of prose.
Definitely a spectacle to be enjoyed, and that brings to mind the figure of the author, too often in the shade, like all great contemporary playwrights who signed masterpieces of a theater that, in its modernity, can still be called "classic" and certainly intense, deep and addictive.
Worthy occasion, therefore, to remember Williams, also famous for "a streetcar named desire," "cat on a hot tin roof", "suddenly last summer" and several other stage works and connected with cinematography.
Tennessee WilliamsAmerican poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter and was actually called Thomas Lanier Williams. He was born in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911, from Cornelius Coffin and Edwina Dakin Williams. He died in New York on February 25, 1983.
As a child his condition of homosexuality led him to suffer, at least in the early years of his nature, which was derided even by his father. Tom had a brother, Dakin, and a sister, Rose, who soon showed signs of mental disturbance, anxiety to schizophrenia.
Thomas graduated in 1938 all’ University of Iowa, the same year that his sister was locked in a psychiatric hospital. A little later, Rose is carried to the brain with a lobotomy, which he reduced in a vegetative state. Williams never forgave her mother for agreeing to this and for years he felt a deep sense of guilt towards the sister. At the same time, he suffered from panic attacks and feared to end. Throughout his life he suffered from depression and alcoholism also grazed.
A year later at graduation, having won a thousand dollars from the Rockefeller Foundation for his act plays "American Blues", he adopted the name Tennessee.
The drama "the glass menagerie" was his first major success, in 1944, but Williams wrote for the theater for a decade. His first opera represented was "Candles to the Sun", 1937, never translated into Italian. Earlier, in ' 35 and ' 36, had been staged short acts from amateurs. Recently, years after the author's death, were recovered some unpublished of the era before the famous play.
The first performance of "the glass menagerie" took place at the Civic Theatre in Chicago in 1944.
THE PLOT
The action takes place at the end of the 30 's of the 20th century. Amanda has raised her two children alone after her husband abandoned them. The woman, strong-willed and energetic, comes from the southern States, where she was admired for her beauty, and he still regrets for leaving everything and have followed her husband.
His relationship with Tom and Laura oscillates between the tender and the excessive; in particular, the woman is concerned with the future of Laura, made lame by a disease and therefore introverted and closed: she was locked in a world of illusions, and spends most of his time listening to old records, reading novels and especially care for a collection of glass animals.
Tom works in a shoe factory to keep Laura and Amanda, but life boring and mundane that leads (as well as the sick mother's presence) makes him cranky. The guy tries unsuccessfully to become a poet, and seeks comfort by going to the movies at all hours of the night to experience the adventures at least with fantasy. This triggers anxiety by Amanda, who fears his son is an alcoholic as the father.
One day Amanda discovers that Laura, because of his shyness, he left the course Secretary he was following. The same thing had happened in the past for high school. The woman then becomes obsessed with finding her a husband that would ensure a peaceful future; the girl does not have any interest in finding any suitors, so his mother begs Tom to find a suitor.
To break free from the pressures of his mother, Tom invites Jim, a longtime friend who now works with him at the factory. Amanda is completely dedicated to the preparation of the dinner; that night, however, Laura realizes that Jim is none other than a guy who liked very much to high school, so the arrival of the guy being subjugated by her shyness and she can't even sit with the others for dinner.
During dinner, suddenly the light goes away (Tom is so disinterested in the family who had neglected to pay your Bill). Through a ruse Amanda manages to make Laura and Jim remain alone because they speak and know everyone.
The two boys are talking by candlelight, and little by little Jim managed to win the reluctance of Laura, who tells him how much he liked in the past. Jim, with a lot of tenderness, says its problems are caused solely by his insecurity, and that she should take better care of himself because he finds a beautiful girl.
The two are dancing together, but with an abrupt movement Jim drops a glass Unicorn and was part of the collection of Laura, breaking the Horn. Soon after he kisses her, but almost immediately after confesses to being already betrothed to another woman. Laura gives him the Unicorn broke as a wedding present before you lock yourself in a persistent and painful silence; the return of Amanda and Tom, Jim leaves.
When Amanda learns of Jim's engagement, is furious with Tom because she believes that he was aware from the outset, and house hunting. In the final soliloquy Tom explains that after that night he gave up Amanda and Laura and never returned to them, even if their memory haunted him throughout his life; asks so to Laura by “blowing out candles”i.e. let him could forget.
While he goes out, Laura off the candles that illuminated the scene.
The idea for "the glass menagerie" was a story that Williams wrote in 1934, titled "portrait of a girl in glass", which contained strong autobiographical references related to their author.
The protagonist door even its name, Thomas, while Laura's character is based on the life of his sister Rose. Even in the representation are often told that the nickname of the girl's Blue Rose.
Its elements are evident in the same author: Laura introversion and shyness belonged to Tennessee Williams ' early life and obsession with the glass menagerie of Laura reflects the dreams and fantasies of the author as a young man.
The autobiographical elements of the drama converge in one theme, that of memory, which persists throughout the event: the story is seen through the eyes of Tom, filtered by her feelings and her memories; the characters of the characters who revolve around are uneven and grotesque, as “deformed” from the past and from the mixed feelings toward mother and sister.
Another great theme of the drama is the relationship with one's ego: three of the four characters act solely for their own personal gain, disguising him unselfish actions.
The glass menagerie by Laura that gives the title to the entire work symbolizes the main interpretation of drama and is the image of the inner world of Laura, made of fragile illusions. Glass animals are fragile and seemingly cheap, but if illuminated by the right light reveal all colors of the Rainbow: they become, in effect, a picture of Laura herself, psychologically weak and dull, but actually more human and virtuous of the other characters.
The long scene of dialogue between Laura and Jim is loaded with a strong symbolism: Jim breaks the glass Unicorn Horn, Laura's favorite statuette, which thus becomes a “simple horse” like everyone else; the same object it shall be then given by the girl. This alludes to the story of the protagonist: the thoughtfulness that Jim uses seem to turn it for a moment in a girl “normal”at the expense of its uniqueness, made of beauty and fragility; but the “violence” hiding in these concern causes the girl breaks down as the figurine. The fact that she give him presents, finally, represents what it lost in the whole thing and what he took with his falsehoods.
Appointment at the Angel, in this November 2015, so for this Roman representation of the great playwright contemporary drama: Welcome to masterpieces such as "the glass menagerie" even among the general public, when properly presented on stage.
Dalila Calisolo
PHOTOS AA. VV.