The Glass Menagerie - Premiere

"The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams

In his first major success, which premiered on December 26, 1944 at the Civic Theater in Chicago, the then 34-year-old Williams depicts the life of the Wingfield family during the Great Depression: mother Amanda and her children Laura and Tom lead a bleak existence in St. Louis - each character escapes reality in their own way.

Amanda yearns for her youth as a sought-after Southern belle who followed the wrong suitor and ended up in poverty. Tom, the narrator of the play, dreams of a poet's career and life abroad; he escapes the daily grind of warehouse work and supporting the family through cinema visits and alcohol. Laura, physically disabled by childhood illness and psychologically extremely fragile, finds solace in her collection of glass animal figurines.

When Tom, at his mother's insistence, invites his work colleague Jim to dinner, the friendly young man initially manages to pull the family out of their dream worlds - until reality finally intrudes.