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The Glass Menagerie

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 2m

A drama of great tenderness, charm and beauty, The Glass Menagerie is one of the most famous plays of the modern theatre.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • WINNER! 2014 Drama League Award - Outstanding Revival of a Play
    Nominee: 2014 Tony® Award - Best Revival of a Play
    Nominee: 2017 Olivier Award - Best Revival of a Play

Details

Summary
Amanda Wingfield is a faded, tragic remnant of Southern gentility who lives in poverty in a dingy St. Louis apartment with her son, Tom, and her daughter, Laura. Amanda strives to give meaning and direction to her life and the lives of her children, though her methods are ineffective and irritating. Tom is driven nearly to distraction by his mother's nagging and seeks escape in alcohol and the world of the movies. Laura also lives in her illusions. She is crippled, and this defect, intensified by her mother's anxiety to see her married, has driven her more and more into herself. The crux of the action comes when Tom invites a young man of his acquaintance to take dinner with the family. Jim, the caller, is a nice ordinary fellow who is at once pounced upon by Amanda as a possible husband for Laura. In spite of her crude and obvious efforts to entrap the young man, he and Laura manage to get along very nicely, and momentarily Laura is lifted out of herself into a new world. But this crashes when, toward the end, Jim explains that he is already engaged. The world of illusion that Amanda and Laura have striven to create in order to make life bearable collapses about them. Tom, too, at the end of his tether, at last leaves home.
History

The Glass Menagerie premiered on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre in March 1945 under the direction of Eddie Dowling.

AMANDA WINGFIELD
LAURA WINGFIELD
TOM WINGFIELD
JIM O'CONNOR
  • Setting An alley in St. Louis. Now and the past.
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Intense Adult Themes

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing available for professional groups only. Some restrictions apply.

Scripts

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Authors

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) explored passion with daring honesty and forged a poetic theatre of raw psychological insight that shattered conventional proprieties and transformed the American stage. The autobiographical The Glass Menagerie brought what Mr. Williams called “ ...
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