Bouffon Glass Menajoree
Bouffon Glass Menagerie promises a lot to its audience members– and delivers on every promise. It’s a fantastic show that is well-conceived, well-directed, well-designed, and very well-acted.
Basically it’s a parody of Tenessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie: which was Tennessee’s first commercial success, and a play that has a long history of being parodied and mocked.
And mock it they do. From the moment the actors enter into the space–they are viciously and hilariously mocking the play, the playwright, the audience, each other, and just about everything else they can get their hands on. In the straight play, the characters are all crippled and limited emotionally, but they seem fine on the inside. Here the visual display of the characters shows them as crippled physically as they are emotionally.
The show features Lynn Berg as Tom (the drunken lout of a brother, with a hunchback and a bald head), Audrey Crabtree as Laura (the self-destructive crazy girl with a fetish for glass animals and cutting herself) and Aimee German as Amanda (the overstuffed mother who is living in the glory days of her past) The Gentleman Caller is culled from the audience, and is allowed free roam over the play (although with some guidance) The show is directed by Eric Davis (he of The Red Bastard.) Eric and Audrey are two of the artistic directors of the Clown Festival.
There are so many great moments in this show– including the phone sex with the audience, the picking of the gentleman caller, and the beer-chugging contest in the middle (you know I am not kidding!) It’s hard to pick one to site– and I think that’s the beauty of this play. This particular show is so much about the audience connection, and what they share with us– it’s really a “you had to be there” to understand it exactly. Meaning that when you go, you might have a whole different set of circumstances that you enjoy. What I have no fear whatsoever of is that you will enjoy it– the performers are that good, and the situation that they have created is that good.
The play is wonderful and deserves to be seen– they only have one more appearance at the festival (tonight, Saturday 8/13 at 10:30 pm.) So if you are on the fence about going– Now is your chance. Check it out.
You can also find out more about the play by going to their website, listed below.
http://www.bouffonglassmenajoree.com
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