Review: SUDS' The Glass Menagerie - celebrating Australia's diaspora

Danial Yazdani’s adaptation of the American classic honours the complexities of Australian immigrant experiences.

Design by Amelia Vogelsang

A repressed, passionate poet burdened by family responsibilities, an overbearing, caring mother, and a timid, down-to-earth sister grapple with the many challenges presented by life in the Midwest. This may be a familiar story to many of us, whether you read Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie in high school, once watched it live, or even as a film.

But it is also an intimately personal family story, a realisation made particularly clear to me after watching SUDS’ reimagining of the text. Director Danial Yazdani adapted the classic play to an Australian context, honouring the complexities of immigrant experiences by “exploring the ‘ethnic other’ in the Anglosphere.”

The Glass Menagerie unfolds in a cosy, bohemian apartment designed by Stuart Rich and Katarina Butler. With its abundance of vintage furniture, Anatolian rugs, and an assortment of clothes hung up to dry, the set feels very much like the family home. Though cramped, the play comments on a world much larger than USyd’s Cellar Theatre.

We are first introduced to Tom, played by the captivating Nelson Lee, who must be commended for his seamless transitions between narrator and character. Lee commences his opening narration amidst dim lighting, setting the tone for the rest of the play. The emotional potency of Lee’s narration was undoubtedly magnified by the team’s lighting and music choices. The recurring use of red and blue lighting aptly reflected the sombre and often hazy nature of Tom’s memories. Coupled with the wistful and melancholic melodies of Teresa Teng or Rita Pavone, the production team successfully encapsulated a spell-binding feeling of nostalgia. The play’s overall sound, designed by Jennifer Gao and Justin Leong, was reminiscent of Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love, with the use of music belonging to a mosaic of cultures and languages, all of which were associated with a strong feeling of longing or sentimentality. 

Josephine Lee, playing Tom’s Malaysian-Chinese mother Amanda, beautifully translated the essential theatricality which characterises much of Tennesse William’s most beloved characters. She brought a charming sense of humour to this garrulous character, going on and on about her endless “Gentlemen callers” back in Ipoh and seamlessly slipping Cantonese expressions into her English speech — just as my mother would. 

As much as she shines on her own, Lee’s true talent as an actress was revealed through Amanda’s layered interactions with her children. I loved the painfully awkward silence between Amanda and Tom the morning after their fight. The two of them skillfully attempting to avoid eye contact as they drank tea together left the audience reeling, as it highlighted the very realistic trivialities of family conflict. “Life requires Monkey King endurance,” Amanda says.

After Tom invites his charming friend Jim, played by Michael Sebastian, over for dinner, Amanda worries about the “steamed fish and roast duck” she needs to make: the go-to Chinese dishes to impress your guests. Her resolute determination to find her daughter Laura a suitable husband is hilariously obvious when she appears in an extravagant western-style ballroom dress, a look juxtaposed to the elegant yellow Qipao or Cheongsam we see her in for most of the play. 

It is clear that Amanda’s ‘tiger parenting’ may have exacerbated her daughter Laura’s “nervous indigestion” (as Amanda puts it). Although Laura doesn’t always say much, Airlie Benson’s artful grasp of subtlety conveyed her emotions so clearly. Benson as Laura was beautiful and fragile, just like her glass menagerie. Yet, she also brought a degree of strength to the role when Jim comes to visit, until their almost cliché whirlwind romance comes to an end — revealing further cracks in the Wingfield family. 

The Glass Menagerie stayed faithful to William’s original play in many ways, most notably with their use of accompanying images to guide the narrative and their exploration of difficult family relationships. But it is ultimately a different play. This time written by and involving POC and CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) theatre practitioners, celebrating the ethnic diversity of Australia. The team should be proud of their commitment to sharing authentic diasporic stories.

The Glass Menagerie will be performed at the Cellar Theatre until March 3. Tickets available here.