When Hollywood stars appear
on the West End there are two
worries: will they remember
their lines and might their
supposed high-wattage gleam
unbalance the production?
Amy Adams’s performance in
The Glass Menagerie is a
success on both counts.
Despite limited stage
experience, this six-time Oscar
nominee is comfortable in the
theatre. She moves easily and
gives a likeably naturalistic
turn. Investors will be chewing
their fists. Isn’t the whole
point, when casting a swanky
name, to create such a thespy
kerfuffle of overacted swagger
— even if it is Richard Dreyfuss
forgetting his lines or Jessica
Lange looking like the Bride
of Wildenstein — that the box
office telephone rings hot?
Adams and her director,
Jeremy Herrin, decline to
play that game and her
performance is a model of
team-spirited restraint. That
demonstrates artistic integrity
but it comes at a cost of
theatrical pizzazz.
Adams plays Tennessee
Williams’s ageing Southern
belle Amanda Wingfield,
deserted by her husband and
reduced to a 1930s St Louis
tenement block with her two
adult children. Amanda
dreams of “gentleman callers”
dropping in on her disabled
daughter, Laura. Amanda’s
feckless son, Tom, brings home
Jim, one of his work friends.
Jim kisses Laura but discloses
that he is engaged to another
woman. “Things have a way of
turning out so badly,” Amanda
laments as the play reaches its
melancholy conclusion. Ugh,
the misery of Williams.
The tale is here set as if in
a rehearsal studio with the
backstage gubbins visible.
A large, high video screen
depicts kaleidoscopic images.
None of this does much to
create the necessary sense of
suffocation. The part of Tom
has been split so that the older
Tom who tops and tails the
story as narrator is played by
the magnetic Paul Hilton while
Tom’s younger self falls to Tom
Glynn-Carney. Victor Alli plays
Jim, and Lizzie Annis makes a
beautiful, vulnerable Laura.
At 47, Adams should be the
age for Amanda yet she seems
a little young. And is she too
sane? Amanda is so often donewith over-the-top warbling and
fluttering of eyelashes. Maybe
a more gnarled stage actress
would have taken that
histrionic approach, knowing
that in theatre you tend to
exaggerate, even if it means
upstaging colleagues. For me,
Adams’s approach works. This
is the least annoying Menagerie
I have seen, and the moment
Amanda appears in her datedQUENTIN
LETTS
The Glass Menagerie
Duke of York’s Theatre,
London WC2
HHH
The Unfriend
Minerva Theatre, Chichester
HHHH
A very natural star
THEATRE
Amy Adams glows as the latest Hollywood actor in the West End
party frock, so often jolting
in its pathos, is here rather
touching. As an act of raw
commerce, mind you, the
production could possibly use
starker delineation.
Adams emerges as a bigger
professional and a smaller
superstar. She has fared better
than poor Taron Egerton,
whose recent West End turn
was such a flop, but she hasnot created the buzz of Jodie
Comer’s virtuoso solo in
Prima Facie. Adams plays to
her subtle acting strengths,
just as the expansive Ralph
Fiennes does in Straight Line
Crazy and Kit Harington did
with his darkly handsome
Henry V. The next big name
coming in to land is Emilia
Clarke, with The Seagull
later this month. Publicity
dervishes are already busy
at work, creating vibes. Box
office hype versus dramatic
truth: a tension as old as time.
Chichester’s The Unfriend
is that rare thing, a modern
suburban farce, happy
simply to make audiences
laugh. It is set in a family
house in Chiswick. There is
a nosy neighbour and a
doorbell. It doesn’t beat
you round the ears with a
message. What a relief.
Steven Moffat, known
for his work on Doctor Who,
pinched the idea for this
debut play from an
acquaintance’s real-life
experience. Humdrum
Peter and Debbie (Reece
Shearsmith and Amanda
Abbington) meet a chatty
American widow on a holiday
cruise. They give her their
email address. Uh-oh. Within
days Elsa Jean Krakowski
(Frances Barber, having a
blast) has come to stay. She’s a
bit of a nightmare. This is not
to say that Elsa Jean is all bad.
She teaches some manners to
Peter and Debbie’s teenagers.
But an internet search soon
shows that Elsa Jean has,
cough, a tricky history.
Moffat’s comedy, in places
too lavatorial, is based on the
eternal truth that the English
middle classes cannot bear to
broach awkward subjects. Yes,
your guest may be a mass-
murderer but how can you
mention that without sounding
rude? More cake, Dr Crippen? cFor theatre tickets, visit
thetimes.co.uk/ticketsREVIVALS TO BOOK NOW
Britannicus
Nathaniel Curtis (It’s a Sin)
stars in Jean Racine’s 1669
tragedy, which hasn’t been
on a London stage for ten
years. Lyric Hammersmith,
London W6, until Jun 25A Doll’s House, Part Two
Not a straight revival, this isthe playwright Lucas Hnath’s
2017 sequel to Ibsen’s 1879
play. Donmar Warehouse,
London WC2, until Aug 6The Seagull
Emilia Clarke will star in Anya
Reiss’s 21st-century version of
Chekhov’s The Seagull. It’s her
second ever stage role.Harold Pinter Theatre,
London SW1, until Sep 10Richard III
Arthur Hughes is the first
disabled actor to play the
lead role for the RSC. Royal
Shakespeare Theatre,
Stratford-upon-Avon,
until Oct 8Heart of glass Amy Adams
as Amanda WingfieldAdams plays
to her subtle
acting
strengths
JOHAN PERSSON5 June 2022 15