(previously posted at keestone.livejournal.com)
About four years ago, I saw a wonderful production of Philadelphia Here I Come,
which was excellent timing, since I was studying Brian Friel that
semester. I loved the play, but I found it somewhat derivative. See, I
absolutely love The Glass Menagerie, and I saw a great deal of Tennessee Williams' influence in Philadelphia Here I Come.
Today, I saw a wonderful production of The Glass Menagerie. I almost laughed when the Gentleman Caller walked on stage, though. It was Private Gar.
Speaking
of laughter, this is the second seriously dramatic play I've seen at
The Gate that the rest of the audience audience seemed to find much more
funny than I did. It's kind of weird to hear people laughing at
moments that you find painful. The other play that this happened in was
Uncle Vanya.
Part of this was Brian Friel's translation, which I didn't particularly
like. It played some moments for broader humor rather than what I
remembered as more cynical and fatalistic, and it seemed to be trying to
make Uncle Vanya an Anglo-Irish Big House play. It was one of the
less satisfactory productions I saw during the Dublin Theatre Fetival.
It was still very good, mind. Vanya and Sonia were both excellent. But, I
preferred the other translation I'd seen before, Yelena seemed to have
wandered in from a Noel Coward play, and I found Astrov a wholly unlikable
ass, where I'd previously found him the most sympathetic character.
Speaking of somewhat off characterization... While the production of The Glass Menagerie
I saw today was excellent and all the actors were wonderful, I felt
that Laura was miscast. A couple of the other people in the group I
went with had the same thought . . . she wasn't fragile enough. It was
more than that though. It's hard to express this . . . she was too
extroverted. Too expressive, almost. (I suppose that it also didn't
help that she looked like Wynona Rider.) The actor was really really
good, and she gave a beautiful performance, but it just didn't fit quite
right. It bugged me, and it was personal. See, Laura is the first
character I really, really touched. I haven't played her in a full
production, but I've played her in scenework, and I did do the scene
with Jim in a student showcase. It was a meaningful experience. I've
always identified a little too closely with Laura Wingfield. (Amusingly
enough, my knee seized up during the play, so I ended up limping out of
the theatre at the end.)
