Type – 20th Century American Playwright, Family Drama, Memory Play
If you liked – A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, A Raisin in the Sun
The Glass Menagerie: A subversive classic that wanders into cautionary territory but remains worth seeing
Interpreting a robust classic is no easy feat. Particularly a classic that is as brazen and poignant as Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie – a piece that is no delicate dove. It’s brash and brutal, with characters that depict the coarse gauze of humanity. Audience members must be aware that it is all contextual; a memory play where the main character narrates events drawn from within.
After his father’s abandonment, Tom (Tim Draxl) is now the head of the family. Much of the storyline is focused on his sister, Laura (Millie Donaldson), a role filled with rich symbolism and an axis around which the plot turns. After dropping out of secondary and secretarial school, Laura spends her day listening to the same gramophone records over and over again and a deep immersion in a collection of small glass figurines, which she refers to as her glass menagerie. The character of Laura is strongly influenced by Williams’ own sister, Rose Isabel Williams, and this depiction unearths the subtext of neurodivergence in her portrayal. In her professional theatrical stage debut, Millie Donaldson (a proud, disabled and neurodivergent performer) brings a very real energy to the peculiar and tender character – fragile and unique like her glass unicorn figurine. Rose Williams would later spend much of her life in and out of institutions due to her physical disability, where she was subject to a lobotomy. In Glass Menagerie, we see Laura wearing a leg brace. This embodiment of Rose appears in many of Williams’ plays, often referring to her psychiatric condition and medical abuse.
As money depletes, the family relies on Tom as its main breadwinner. He loathes his factory job and spends his nights in the movies in a sense of ironic escapism from his own life. Drexl’s performance draws upon Tennesse himself. To excape reality, Williams ran far away from the cards he was dealt with, finding solace in his pen. The Glass Menagerie was his ticket out of his given place.
Their mother, Amanda (Alison Whyte) is a histrionic, with an insatiable need to be seen. Representing Williams’ own mother, who cared more about raising the family’s social status instead of raising their living standard. Whyte is terrifying, showing Amanda as being only capable of communicating through manipulation and aggression. Whyte brings an unrelenting intensity to her portrayal. Whilst Amanda is a supporting role, she is by far the most present voice in the room.
The dysfunctional family live in a tiny prison-like apartment accessed by a fire escape. The entire play takes place in a horizontal abstract representation of this space by Kat Chan. The walls are grey and decaying, much like a cold and damp concrete prison cell. The cramped, dull world that Chan creates is reflective of the unchanging life of three people, overlooked by their absent patriarch. It reinforces the emotionally claustrophobic life Tom leads. He feels compelled to stay but yearns to leave the repugnant cards he was dealt. Matilda Woodroofe’s costumes are reflective of an era where opulence became a faded memory. Paul Lim’s lighting is gloomy with an almost horror edge in nature. Hanging over the entire stage is a greyscale portrait of the family’s departed patriarch. His unchanging eyes stare into the audience as a ‘gentleman caller’ is sought for Laura to marry.
The Glass Menagerie is a heavy script with deeply poignant undertones. It is not a happy story, and the vast majority of prior performances have not emphasised humour within the script. Under Mark Wilson’s direction, the creative team have found many opportunities for humour – much emphasis being placed upon the absurdity of Amanda’s behaviour. Challenging the script is how director Wilson has approached it. The direction manipulates the absurdity of the situation into its own form of humour, however it walks a fine line so that the audience is not giggling to the tune of misfortune. One can laugh at Amanda’s haughty lack of self-composure, but to reduce her to the tenuous nature of a melodramatic stock character feels exploitative.
After the intermission, there’s a seismic shift in tone. After much pestering, a gentleman caller is coming for dinner (Harry McGee). He basks in the irony that he was voted ‘most likely to succeed’ in high school, but is currently in a poor predicament. A pivotal conversation between them is the focus of the second half as the Gentleman Caller seeks to subvert Laura’s reality, believing the crux of her problems lie in an inferiority complex which is later reinforced through the breaking of glass. Something that is unique is forced to become forever normal.
This is the lived experience of everyone, neurodivergent or not. As we age, who we are slowly fades away. We try to rationalise with ourselves, but it is all in vain. It is not the outcome that you wanted, and it will never be the same again. The unicorn will forever be a horse just like all the other horses. You don’t always have to love a classic.
Is The Glass Menagerie Worth Seeing in Melbourne?
This Glass Menagerie is a subversive twist on a Williams classic. It wanders into uncomfortable territory with humour, before reigning itself into its true purpose. The Glass Menagerie does not fit our modern attitudes towards mental illness, where we aim to resist forcing normality. But much like our modern attitudes, those who cannot manage to or resist conformity themselves can often fall through the cracks. Much like Laura, the vulnerable are left abandoned.
Tickets and Practical Info for The Glass Menagerie in Melbourne 🎟️
Tickets: https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2026/the-glass-menagerie
27 Apr — 5 Jun 2026
Southbank Theatre, The Sumner
