The Glass Menagerie

I did not expect something like this play to come out of Tennessee Williams' head, having thought that all his plays were purely American Realism from the 1950s along the lines of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (having seen a brilliant production of it). So I was pleasantly surprised by the opening of The Glass Menagerie, with the character Tom Wingfield (Leo Bill) delivering a monologue to the audience about a memory he has. We then explore that memory as a flashback. I'll have to read more Tennessee Williams.
Aswell as superb acting that perfectly delivered humour and emotion at once, the scene and set changes were remarkably slick. A curtain went up for a second then there were suddenly actors and different props on stage. Very effectively done.
The juxtaposition of hilarious comedy and tragedy worked perfectly, sometimes making the audience feel guilty for laughing. As for the purely emotional sections, lets just say that it nearly reduced a group of sixteen year old boys to tears.
This play really was excellent. Everything about it worked, even if the extreme southern states accents were slightly irritating. I got alot more out of it than I expected I would, and will be going to see or reading many more plays by Williams.