From the first words of the prologue, delivered by a narrator pleasantly playing the dandy, from the first suave notes assembled by the musician Frannie Holder, the artistic proposal of the director Alexia Bürger, with its fully assumed theatricality, seduces. A succession of curtains concentrically frames the action of this piece with the autobiographical flavor of Tennessee Williams and leads the eye towards a vanishing point, a window. This opening onto the world taunts Tom, who is grappling with an inextricable dilemma: languish in the dreary grayness of a shoe factory to ensure the survival of his mother and sister or cast off to answer the call of the open sea. and art.
To tell the story of his family, Tom (Fabrice Yvanoff Sénate) unfolds before our eyes the menagerie of flesh that haunts his memories. There we find Amanda, an outrageous mother figure, loving but imperious, as well as Laura, a sister living with a slight disability and fleeing the social anxiety that paralyzes her by taking care of her collection of glass animals. There will also be Jim, the providential suitor – or at least we believe so for a moment – who could relieve Tom of his fraternal obligations if he agreed to marry Laura.
The fact that everything recounted in this theater of memory passes through the filter of the narrator’s crystallized perceptions grants vast creative license with regard to the aesthetics of the spectacle, which is not confined to the limits of realism. Costume designer Elen Ewing has duly seized this latitude and offers extravagant outfits displaying a baroque heteroclism (the beauty queen dress from Amanda’s younger years is coupled with a coat of improbable shapes), an evocative one-upmanship (Laura, whose mother intends to highlight the decorative value, wears cumbersome gloves made from lace doilies) as well as tasty references (Jim’s hair, the golden boyliterally twinkles).
These stylistic flashes contribute to the comedic character of this version of this classic of American dramaturgy. Indeed, despite the dramas that play out, those of individuals either fundamentally dissatisfied with their lot, or finding themselves faced with a heartbreaking choice, the general atmosphere of the production turns out to be rather funny than grim. A bold path, traveled with skill.
Let us concede that the humor turns out to be quite strong at times, that a redundancy can be noted regarding the use of certain procedures and that some gags do not err on the side of excess of subtlety (let’s think of the mother-daughter tandem which finds refuge against the cold under a United States flag). The fact remains that Bürger manages – by building on the direct and modern translation without being touted by Fanny Britt – to breathe new life into this classic text and to make it all the more attractive for the public largely made up of adolescents who frequent the Denise-Pelletier theater.
It must be said that this singular Glass Menagerie can count on the unstoppable comic prowess of a virtuoso. It will be very difficult, in the future, to succeed Marie-Hélène Thibault in the role of Amanda as the actress embraces the excess of her character – while taking care to keep the caricature at bay -, in addition to giving it a added charm which makes her endearing, even fascinating, despite her flaws.
At her side, Elisabeth Smith, who plays Laura, convinces to the point of moving. Their duo has something of the white clown and the august, oscillating between pathos and truculence. This fruitful dynamic certainly constitutes a key element of this delightful rereading.