by Tennessee Williams
seen at the Duke of York's Theatre on 15 April 2017
John Tiffany directs Cherry Jones as Amanda, Kate O'Flynn as Laura, Michael Esper as Tom and Brian J Smith as Jim in this excellent revival of Tennessee Williams's 'memory play'.As the play is narrated by Tom, an aspiring poet (who may be seen as a stand-in for the author) we may expect it to be about his own struggle to escape the suffocating atmosphere of his family, and in particular of his over-bearing mother Amanda. She indeed manages the faded hopes of her life by keeping up appearances and talking, talking, talking in a way that would infuriate any young man with any strength of character. Cherry Jones portrays this difficult and at times infuriating woman with immense authority and dignity, which makes her power all the more pervasive, while Michael Esper as Tom shows us something of the strain of living up to such a mother's standards.
