THE Autumn season at Exeter's Northcott Theatre continues with a new in-house production of a play that is widely regarded as one of the greatest of the 20th century.
Tennessee Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie' directed by Northcott artistic director Ben Crocker, runs until October 21.
Set in 1930s St Louis, The Glass Menagerie is an evocative and poignant drama about the final dissolution of a family.
The story is narrated by Tom, bitter at feeling imprisoned by his neurotic mother and painfully introverted sister.
Their mother Amanda, a faded Southern belle abandoned by her husband long ago, attempts to hold everything together and persuades her rebellious son to provide a 'gentleman caller' for shy, vulnerable Laura.
The resulting encounter delivers one of the most emotionally charged love scenes on the modern stage.
Set and costumes for The Glass Menagerie were designed by Exeter-based Kit Surrey whose design for Queueing for Everest at the Crucible Studio Theatre in Sheffield has just been nominated for Best Design in the Barclays Theatre Awards 2000.
'The play has a special generosity of spirit,' says Ben Crocker. 'It is one of the finest flowerings from the golden age of American writing,' he says.
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