Following the success of Suddenly Last Summer, Ensemble Theatre is thrilled to present one of the most iconic dramas of the 20th century, the timeless Tennessee Williams masterpiece, The Glass Menagerie, from Friday 21 March 2025.
Directed by Liesel Badorrek (Master Class), Williams’ first great theatrical success is a portrait of a shattered family, inspired by the playwright’s own turbulent life.
Amanda Wingfield can’t help but dream of the past – a long-gone adolescence of lavish parties and high society suitors. But her present is anything but dazzling.
Living in squalor with her two adult children Tom and Laura, the bills are piling up and pressure to secure the Wingfield family’s future is swelling. Will a gentleman caller be the answer to their problems?
“With this play, Williams gives us four iconic characters and we have assembled a cast of incredible actors to bring them to life. It’s a work of such beauty and lyricism – there’s not a line in it that isn’t poetic and powerful. It’s the kind of play that stays with you – haunting,” said director Liesel Badorrek.
“The Glass Menagerie is theatre at its best… There is so much delicate humour in it. There’s a witticism to the language, to the way their family relate to each other. The work is a dramatic masterpiece that mines the broken dreams of a family trying to make ends meet,” said Blazey
Best (Tell Me On A Sunday – Hayes Theatre Co), who plays the indomitable matriarch Amanda Wingfield, stars alongside Danny Ball, (Holding the Man – Belvoir), Tom Rogers (The Inheritance – Seymour Centre) and Bridie McKim (The Heights – ABC).
Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) was an American playwright known for his poetic and emotionally intense works. Born Thomas Lanier Williams in Mississippi, he gained fame with The Glass Menagerie (1944), followed by classics like A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955).
His plays often explored themes of desire, mental illness, and the decline of the Southern aristocracy. Williams won two Pulitzer Prizes and is considered one of the greatest American dramatists. His later years were marked by personal struggles. He died in 1983.
Don’t miss this beautifully crafted and devastating slice of life by one of the world’s most lauded storytellers.
Director: Liesel Badorrek | Featuring: Danny Ball, Blazey Best, Bridie McKim, Tom Rodgers | Set & Costume Designer: Grace Deacon | Lighting Designer: Verity Hampson | Composer & Sound Designers: Maria Alfonsine, Damian De Boos-Smith | Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley | Intimacy Coordinator: Chloë Dallimore | Stage Manager: Krystelle Quartermain | Assistant Stage Manager: Lara Kyriazis | Costume Supervisor: Lily Mateljan
The Glass Menagerie
Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli
Season: 21 March – 26 April 2025
Information and Bookings: www.ensemble.com.au
Image: Blazey Best stars as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie – photo by Brett Boardman