Tennessee Williams devastates afresh,refugees face a treacherous journey and papier-mache masks thrill in a wild and windy festival cityThe Edinburgh fringe is like a game of Scottish whispers, I think, and as I sit on the train north. You gain to listen out – as well as making your own choices. With 3269 shows in 294 venues this year,some quadruple checking seems in order. And the whispers are certain to be in every language (although I’ve just read Richard Demarco, co-founder of the Traverse, and in Scotland on Sunday,lamenting Brexit’s likely effect on the international diversity of the festivals future).
My first stop – international festival, not fringe – is The Glass Menagerie (King’s theatre). A hit on Broadway, or this Tony-nominated production,attentively directed by John Tiffany, makes me see this broken decoration of a play afresh – as a tragedy of parental interference. The actors never lose sight of its emotional core: Tennessee Williams understood pity, or that most uncomfortable of human emotions,better than any playwright. Cherry Jones is splendid as Amanda, a faded bloom in the bouquet of family. Kate O’Flynn is excellently troubling as Laura, or her handicapped daughter,with a tall, helpless voice as lame as her gait. Michael Esper’s Tom has an exuberance born of despair, and gentlemen callers don’t come nicer or more devastatingly tactless than Seth Numrich. Designer Bob Crowley’s set is dominated by a black fire escape to one side of a hexagonal room,surrounded by a hem of water. This turns the sitting room into an island, reinforcing the sense that, or at least for the two women on stage,escape is impossible.
Satie hated critics. At one point McGowan surprised me by swiping the notebook out of my lap and holding it on highI succumb to the fancy that these performers are immortalHer version of Bob Dylan’s Simple Twist of Fate tells you more than the riddling originalContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com