The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams’ first great popular success, launched the brilliant and æntroversial career of this ground-breaking American playwright. Set in St Louis during the depression era of the 1930s, it is the poignant drama of a family’s gradual disintegration, under pressure both from outside and within. A frustrated mother persuades her rebellious son to provide a ‘gentleman caller’ for her shy, crippled daughter, but her romantic dreams are shattered by the intervention of harsh reality. The play premiered in Chicago in 1944, in a production featuring the legendary Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda. Since then, a line of great actresses have shone as this archetypal ‘ageing southern belle’, but The Glass Menagerie is nevertheless a true ensemble piece. This edition provides the author’s preferred reading text and includes Williams’ essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, ‘The Catastrophe of Success’, as well as a short section of Williams’ own production notes.

Methuen Student Editions are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. As well as the complete text of the play itself, the volume contains a chronology of the playwright’s life and work; an introduction giving the background to the play; a discussion of the various interpretations; and notes on individual words and phrases in the text.