I wasn't prepared for what the future brought me...

Click here to see an interview with the show's director, Jemima Levick

Click here to have a look at some rehearsal shots from the show

Tennessee Williams’ award-winning portrayal of a disintegrating family in the American Deep South is one of his most sensitive and tragic plays. Amanda has struggled to raise her children, Tom and Laura, during the Depression. Now she is seeking to marry off her shy, crippled daughter, fearing that Laura will become an old spinster, and worried that Tom will abandon them both to seek out a life of his own elsewhere.

Laura’s reclusive life revolves around her collection of glass animals, each as delicate and fragile as she is. When Tom brings a friend home to meet her, she finally believes there is a chance she can be happy, but between her mother’s oppressive sense of futile hope and her brother’s private endeavours to better himself, Laura – and her glass menagerie - face an uncertain future.

Written before his other major plays, such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie is one of Williams’ most intimate and heartbreaking personal dramas, examining how fragile the human heart can be, and how easily it can be broken by society. The production is directed by Jemima Levick, CATS Award nominee for Best Director, for her Box Office record-breaking production of A Christmas Carol at the Lyceum in 2005.

Running time - approx 2h 35m (inc interval)

Some rehearsal shots from The Glass Menagerie (to stop the scrolling slideshow, just move your mouse over the image you wish to see):

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Photography by Michael Thomas 

Watch an interview with Jemima Levick, director of The Glass Menagerie, as she tells us more about...

• The characters and story
• Her approach to directing the show
• The wider significance of the play
• The production process

Please note, actual video quality is much higher than in the thumbnail images below!

Part 1 of 4 - The Characters and Story of The Glass Menagerie (5m 16s)

Part 2 of 4 - Directing the play (4m 42s)

Part 3 of 4 - The Play (5m 05s)

Part 4 - Producing the play (4m 01s)

Thanks to Jamie Smith of Enterprise Screen Productions for his help in producing these videos.