Every theatre-goer in America probably knows Tennessee Williams’ classic drama The Glass Menagerie.  The play is about hope, fear, frustration and, ultimately, the search for forgiveness.  Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, New York, has mounted a memorable and lovely production of this seventy-nine-year old masterpiece.

Director Steven Patterson has revived the original expressionistic design style as well as the music of Paul Bowles used in the original 1944 production.  These two elements return the play to the Great Depression era when lives were on the edge.  Patterson and his perfect cast have found the humor to bring a semblance of real family life to the Wingfields. Tom Wingfield (Brett Mack) tells us of his mother Amanda (Leigh Strimbeck) and his shy, reclusive sister Laura (Sarah Jayne Rothkopf.) The memories are so vivid that it is apparent that he is tied so tightly to them he can’t live his own life.

As effective as the sound and style are, the power and emotional drive of the play are heightened by the cast.  Amanda (as played in the original production by the theatre legend Laurette Taylor and in the film by Gertrude Lawrence) is usually portrayed as a harridan.  Her relationship with her children is affected by the angst and pain caused by a husband who deserted the family years earlier.  She also suffers deep-seated apprehensions regarding her children’s futures.

Ms. Strimbeck is different from her predecessors; she is more feminine and more sprightly.  She would be a reproduction of an older Scarlett O’Hara.  The anger is still present, but it’s tempered by real love and concern for Tom and Laura.  Her laughter is sometimes a giggle.  Her fear of the future hurts her more than the deep anger that audiences have expected.  This makes her a more sympathetic woman who deserves our understanding.  Her performance is almost endearing.

As Tom narrates the story of his family there is a tone of regret and guilt tempered by some rueful tongue-in-cheek moments.  In the flashbacks he ranges from rage to emotional repression.  His confusion regarding the options life presents him are overwhelming.  Mr. Mack offers a well-rounded performance of a young man trying to establish his identity

Laura is virtually a shell of a human being.  Rothkopf’s fragile Laura elicits sympathy and understanding from the audience.  Ms. Rothkopf has imbued her with a quiet sensitivity that is heart-rending.  It is exacerbated when she once again meets Jim O’Connor (Russell Sperberg) a gentleman caller and former high school acquaintance for whom she says she harbored a secret love.

In the famous candlelight scene between Jim and Laura, Sperberg’s concern for her is  profoundly sincere.  Jim voices the aspirations found in the American dream but he can’t fulfill them as a result of the Depression.  His can-do spirit is a marked contrast to the defeat of the Wingfield family.  This scene is beautifully played lit only by a candelabra and a minimal number of spotlights to faintly illuminate the background.  It is a lovely piece of work by Rothkopf and Sperberg.

Patterson’s direction serves the play in that he allows it to flow without affectations … the events simply occur as Williams wrote them.  The play and the direction are story-telling at its best.  The audience is involved immediately with Tom’s opening monologue and continues to feel each emotional moment as it embraces us.  His staging is simple and fluid creating interesting and affective pictures.  It is a beautiful production to see.

John Sowle’s light design adds complementary textures to each scene and set which he also designed.  The candelabra scene alone is a work of art.  The set, including the picture of long-lost father, is shabby connoting the financial and social situation in which the family finds itself.  This ambience also creates emotional tones.  

The costumes by Michelle Rogers are redolent of the mid-1930’s and add to the atmosphere and characters’ personal traits.  Other than the need for a major change in dramatic moments, they usually wear the same costume throughout the play.

This Glass Menagerie is a very brisk two hours and twenty minutes of entrancing theatre.  

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams; Director: Steven Patterson; Cast:  Brett Mack (Tom Wingfield) Leigh Strimbeck (Amanda Wingfield) Sarah Jayne Rothkopf (Laura Wingfield) Russell Sperberg (Jim O’Connor); Set and Light Design: John Sowle; Costume Design: Michelle Rogers; Music: Paul Bowles; Production Stage Manager: Hannarose Manning; Poster Art: Dina Bursztyn; Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes, one intermission; October 5 -October 15, 2023; Bridge Street Theatre, 45 Bridge Street, Catskill, NY. For information and tickets go to their website at www.bridgestreettheatre.org