Submitted by Lily Ickow of the Montgomery Blair High School CAPPIES Theatre Review Group

Imagine a dream world manufactured from illusions, a world that can shatter as easily as glass. This is the world that was crafted by the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in their recent production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.

This semi-autobiographical play describes the sheltered lives of Tom and Laura Wingfield and their mother, Amanda, whose only goal is to find a husband for the crippled, painfully shy Laura. Amanda is consumed by the dreams she has concocted from memories of her own youth, while Tom, though devoted to Laura, wishes only to escape the toxic atmosphere of their apartment. The show reaches its climax when Tom brings a ‘gentleman caller’, Jim O’Connor, to visit Laura at his mother’s request.

This production was excellent in its creation of a strong atmosphere, largely due to a talented cast of four who were able to take William’s sensationally complex script, filled with emotional soliloquies and moments of palpable tension, and bring it to life.

As the nagging mother Amanda, hoping to relive her life through her daughter, Amanda Fernandez showed incredible versatility; she was able to portray both her comforting maternal nature and controlling, often irrational temper. Ellenor Riley-Condit as the shy, quiet Laura provided a lovely contrast to the boldness of Fernandez’s performance; her facial expressions during the many arguments between Tom and Amanda seemed very fitting, while the scenes in which she was hopeful for the future were heart-wrenchingly sad. Both Devin White as Tom and Sam Lahne as Jim complemented the two women well; White by showing the oppressive mood in the apartment and Lahne by acting as an emissary from the world outside.

Though there were occasional moments when the mood was broken or a character’s portrayal seemed inconsistent, these were largely outweighed by the intensity and energy of the production.

A show with the dramatic power of The Glass Menagerie can be difficult to perform, but the incredible actors from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts skillfully conveyed both the fragility and inescapability of a world populated by memories and illusions.