Hill-Gibbins & Co Reflect on Glass at Outing Q&A

Last night over 100 theatregoers braved the transport troubles to join our Group Outing to see The Glass Menagerie, as part of The Young Vic’s 40th anniversary season. Following the production we were treated to a Q&A which included not only the full cast Leo Bill, Deborah Findlay, Sinéad Matthews, and Kyle Solle but also director (and deputy artistic director) Joe Hill-Gibbins as well as multi-intsrumentalist Simon Allen.

One of Tennessee Williams’ best known and most autobiographical plays it tells the story of a mother, son and sister, left by a father – “a telephone man, who loved long distance” – in the midst of the Great Depression. The play is an emotional rollercoaster, loaded with broad social themes, and exploring the complexity of familial relationships. Jeremy Herbert’s set uses the large space effectively making it seem busy but not cluttered and capturing the sense of Southern grandeur distilled into a two-by-four flat in the city. Deborah Findlay, as the Southern belle turned jilted wife and smothering mother, is superb while Leo Bill as Tom (Tennessee) carries the play along with his emotional outbursts and quivering discontent. Sinéad Matthews as Laura and Kyle Solle as her “Gentleman Caller” own the second act as this play reaches its climax in their much anticipated interaction.

Bringing such a well-known play to new life is a difficult task but Hill-Gibbons was happy to talk to us about why the Young Vic chose this play (they finally got the rights) and to describe some of the process of bringing it from page to stage. The cast shared with us some of the research they’d done into the real lives of the Williams family to better understand who these characters were and where they came from. And finally Allen talked to us a little about the music and even about his fish bowl!

Please do feel free to email your comments and thoughts about the play, as well as any photos you have of the event and the evening through to feedback@whatsonstage.com, we love to hear from you.

Thanks for joining us for this event, and do check the homepage to keep up to date on all of our upcoming Outings.